I joined the National Guard and had sons father sign power of atterny. When I got back from training he had moved out of state with my son. I tried to go get him and almost got arrested. He has now been in this other state for more than six months. He is a resident there. In order to see him I have to go to Florida and father will not allow me to take him back to my home in North Carolina. Can someone please tell me what my legal rights are? Where do I even start? I keep running into dead ends everywhere I look. I know I'm not the only one going through this!

Start by revoking that POA ASAP!
Did the father have legal custody of the child and have permission to move the child? If no, the child can be brought back to your state and home.
If he has temporary custody, you will have to have the courts revoke that temp custody.

Provide as much info--the legal aspects of it please--and we'll see what we can come up with.
Don't forget what state the custody/divorce decree is in.

I agree with BAW. Start with your local police and court system to get this rolling. Depending on what you had set up for your child's care this may be considered a case of parental abduction.



Sgt Mom

This all hinges on who has legal custody. If he has legal custody but the two of you had just decided that your son was going to live with you then you have no recourse whatsoever. If you have legal custody then you're looking at parental abduction and child welfare will get involved. If there is no court-ordered custody agreement then whoever has the child, and petitions the court for legal custody first, is the one that has the upper hand.

We didn't have anything worked out through court before he signed fwmily care plan. When I returned home we had to see a mediator and a temporary order was signed. This gives father primary custodian rights untill one of us decides to go back to court. As far as I know everything needs to be done in Florida since my son has been there for more than 6 months. Father also signed a power of atterney, so he was able to do anything he saw fit for son.

I believe he took full advantage of the situation and me. I was bombarded with all of this as soon as I got back home and had no clue where to start or who to go to. He had all of this planed out. He was already out of the state before I ever finished basic.

You are going to need to go back to court if you want your child back home before the temporary custody arrangement expires.
Currently he has primary custody. Since he lives in FL, it made sense that he took the child there while you were gone. Rarely will a parent relocate (especially now with the economy in the toilet) to where the child is just for deployment and such.
So you are going to need to go back to the mediator to get the temporary order revoked and new child custody plan drawn up, set up a court date to have all this reversed.
If you're a single parent, different rules apply, a family care plan MUST be in place at ALL times.

Really, you are going to have to get into court quickly. Whether you have a job and whether he has a job will probably have a big impact on who eventually gets custody. The court is going to look at the temporary order that granted him primary custody and then you leaving for NG training (which is not a full-time job) with him, possibly, having a full-time job.

Assuming he has a full-time job, and since he has physical and legal custody at this point, it doesn't look promising for you to win this fight. Even visitation may be difficult since you returned and attempted to contravene the legal custody order and remove your son from his home.

I know this sounds negative but I'm just trying to present an honest picture here.

NG is not a full time job but if she had a full time job before she left for training then she should have had that job when she got back. So unless she quit her job when she left, then she should still have it.

That is true. But she is still fighting both legal and physical custody and the fact that she attempted parental abduction. Unless he cannot properly support the child then she is fighting an uphill battle.

I do have a full time job. I am the manager at a dog grooming shop. I have had the same job for over two years. The schools here in NC are much better than in FL. I have three bedroom home with plenty of room. Father only has a one bedroom apartment. Son sleeps in room with him.Also there was no order in place when I returned home so I don't think that it was considered parental abduction. They didn't arrest me, cops were just present at time and told me that they couldn't make him give child to me. I couldn't take child without fathers permission.