Can I get custody of my daughter in this situation?

Question by lyvinglyfe: Can I get custody of my daughter in this situation?
I have an 11 year old daughter who is morbidly obese – 232 pounds and is suffering from learning disabilities. She is currently in special education classes with a modified learning curriculum. When with mother, her diet consists of fast food and no exercise.

The relationship with her mother is non-existent as she refuses to communicate with me about anything that relates to our daughter. This has been the case since I started a new relationship 8 years ago. When we ended the relationship, she moved more than 60 miles away and because of my job, i traveled throughout the country and was given every other weekend for visitation. My visitations have always been good with our daughter and still are to this day.

In March of 2009, I attended a Parent teacher Conference and was told that our daughter had been diagnosed with a learning disability and hearing loss in one ear. This was the first that I had heard of this and it was diagnosed 3 years prior. I was also told that our daughter is not returning homework to school and that her clothing is inappropriate for school.

5 years ago, mother began dating a guy with whom my daughter thought highly of. As a result, I thought highly of him as well because my daughter liked him. At this point, I had not met or spoken with him and mother kept him a secret. About a year later while mother was pregnant, he was arrested on felony drug charges and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He served 2 1/2 years and was released on probation. Following his release, he and mother had a child and less than a year later (last May) he was arrested again for felony drug charges, resisting arrest and under the influence of crack cocaine. he is not back in prison serving a 3 – 5 year term.

After doing a background check on him, I found the following:
1993 – Murder charge – charges dropped for lack of evidence
1995 – Sex with a minor – charges dropped due to lack of evidence
1995 – 2009 – Resisting arrest, felony weapons charges, drug possession, under the influence of a controlled substance – These are multiple charges over the last 15 years.

I need to know if this is a situation where I can get custody of my daughter to remove her from this situation.
He is “now” back in prison serving a 3 – 5 year term.
The reason I have not filed prior to now is because of my job. While excuses don’t change outcomes, it is due to that. The company I worked for 10 years filed bankruptcy in June of last year. With that, I moved to be closer to my daughter. I now live 9 minutes from her school and 5 minutes from her mother.

As for my daughters weight and clothing, that is an ongoing issue even as of today. The teachers are constantly informing me of this. I am at the school every week and email with her teacher for updates and missing homework as well. In the months of November and December my daughter gained 19lbs. 🙁

There is so much more to tell, but just a general sense of direction will be good for me. We are going to court on March 18 with mediation on the 16th.
I have been taking her to Dr. Phillip Lee at the UCLA Medical center over the last 7 years. Mother refuses to take part in the program and I only have had her on the 2nd and 4th weekends.

Best answer:

Answer by Grant has five teeth now!
Yes. You should call a family lawyer and go to a free consultation, to see if they can help you.

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