Court Issues Temporary Orders

Everyone,

I apologize, again, for the late update, but as you will hear in my upcoming paragraphs, there’s a good reason.

First, though, I know many of you are anxious to hear what happened in court.

This last hearing was to determine temporary custody orders. (Permanent orders will be issued at a later trial, probably in about three months.)

Over the course of the last three days, testimony was given by friends, experts, and the parents themselves. The judge’s job was to carefully listen to the testimony and determine what was in the best interest of the children.

The last witness to present testimony was the Amicus Attorney, or rather, the attorney appointed by the Court for the children.

He recommended that even though it may be perceived as unfair, it was in the best interests of the children to stay with their father. He also recommended that Cindy’s fourteen hours of visitation be reduced to six hours.

The judge concurred with most of his recommendations, however, she ordered some caveats that I believe are intended to strengthen the mother-child relationship and protect the best interests of the twins.

Of course, we were all crushed by the reduction of visitation hours, but with the exception of that, Cindy has been remarkably positive about the Court’s ruling and is looking forward to working with the Court to become an active part of her children’s lives.

During the proceedings, I understand that the custody issues were severed from the maternity issue, which means that they are now two separate proceedings. Because of that, and in an effort to protect her children’s best interests, Cindy has indicated that she wants to comment very little, if at all, on any custody matters.

Cindy will be posting on the Facebook page later today to personally thank all of you for being so supportive. I know that she takes a lot of strength and comfort from your posts.

We will continue to update this website and the Facebook page as events progress.

–Danielle