Calhoun and Talladega County AL Court System Failure

I would like to share the injustice that my family has been subject to and the failure of the Calhoun and Talladega County Court System. Please let me know if you or someone you know can help my family.

I will start with my case which is in Talladega County, AL court system. At the age of 16 I had a child with the man I thought I would marry. To my surprise as soon as my son was born his father refused to support and began to deny my son. At the time I was living in Talladega County with my parents so I filed my child support case in Talladega County. Child support was ordered. My son is now 14 years old and his father has never paid child support. Every time we go in front of the judge for contempt on the child support nothing is done. He has always owed at least $3,000 each time we were in court and he has never spent 1 minute in jail or had consequences for not paying. I don't understand why the state of Alabama isn't more concerned with men refusing to take care of their children. I always said I should have filed my case in the county that I have resided for most of my life, Calhoun County but I am now glad I didn't because my outcome could be worse.

My sister, Jennifer, was a senior in high school when she unexpectedly found out she was pregnant. She had dreams of going to college to play softball but she gave it all up to be a Mommy to her daughter. She chose to have her child not put her up for adoption or have an abortion. Jennifer tried to make things work with her child's father. They moved in together but he wasn't interested in being a father he only wanted to party and hang out with friends and control her every move. Jennifer wasn't allowed to be around her family or friends. He mentally abused her constantly downgrading her and calling her names and isolating her from her family. Jennifer was miserable and alone taking care of their daughter. When she finally got the courage to leave she was faced with a custody battle over their daughter. His mother said "We will do whatever it takes to make sure Jennifer doesn't have her daughter".

The first court case child support was ordered which was lower than the state guidelines for the amount he was making per year. Visitation was also established which was more than the standard visitation. The child's father continued to harass my sister.

In 2009 my sister went back to court to have the child support reevaluated and the visitation modified. It was ordered in the first case that the child leave to go to her father's on Thursday night and come home on Sunday every other weekend. When the child started school they weren't taking her to school on the Friday that they had her so she was requesting that it be removed from his visitation and his child support be increased since he was only paying $250 per month and making over $60,000 per year. During the court case the child's father and paternal grandmother took the stand and told several lies that the judge ultimately believed. The child's new step mother admitted to being in drug rehab and to giving up her own child. The judge ordered that my niece be put in her father's custody stating "material changes" as the reason. To top it off my sister was ordered to pay him $400 per month in child support and she makes $24,000 per year.

How do you go to court to have a child support order and visitation modified to benefit your child and leave with the child's father having custody? The child is only 7 years old and she is miserable and reminds me of my sister when she was with this man. Her father works 12 to 14 hours per day so the person that is responsible for my niece is the step mother that testified in court that she had been in drug rehab and give up her own child. My sister has never had any drug use, never been arrested and the only thing she has done is take care of her daughter. The grandmother that lied in court was fired from the company she worked for because she was caught stealing money from the company.

My sister is a victim. The Calhoun County court system in Alabam is allowing her abuser to continue to abuse her by letting this continue. This man doesn't care about his daughter. The only thing he does care about is not paying child support and continuing to lead my sister around by a leash. Everything he testified to in court she now has proof he lied about. It was all lies his family lies and manipulates. He said he wouldn't move. He wasn't paying for his house the entire time he was in court, he knew that. He has now moved the child an hour from her mother, stopped taking her to her normal pediatrician, and blocked her mother's phone calls to isolate her and keep her from her mother. What court system allows this to go on? Calhoun County Court in Anniston, Al. I thought the idea was to make the child happy. Well how about you listen to the recordings of her crying to her mother to PLEASE get her back!!! Jennifer has filed an appeal but Judge Brenda Stedham is taking her time about giving the new lawyer the transcript. My niece will need to see a psychiatrist when this is all over.

God bless my niece and keep her safe! I know God will work this all out but why do things like this happen to start with?