Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: custody

The father cannot be forced by the mother to take custody in the face of a court decree that bestows custody on the mother. It sounds like this is a situation that calls out for some family counseling, in which both parents should participate along with the child. I hope the father is at least remaining a presence in the child's live by exercising regular visitation. Perhaps he can exert some influence on the child to start attending school. As a last resort, the mother will have to get school authorities or possibly the juvenile court involved through a petition for a child in need of supervision.

Re: custody

The mother with custody of a difficult 15 year old chid cannot force the father to take custody. In the situation you describe, if he mother is unable to deal with the responsibility and you are unable to accept custody, the Department of Social Services is likely to become involved and the child may be placed in foster care.

Saving a Wayward Young Man

First, I hope the father's presence in this teen-ager's life is regular and wholesome.

If not, it is going to very difficult, if not impossible, to orient this young man in the proper

direction. He may become even more out of control when he legally separate from all parental supervison at age

18. The next two years of his life are the most crucial.

Second, this problem did not come about over night and is going to take a concentrated effort of both parents. If at no other time in their

relationship, this is the time that the parents need to cooperate and help each other.

If the above two REQUIREMENTS are not met, the suggestions below are virtually useless.

The Dept of Social Srvcs can be contacted. If truancy is an issue, the school can be contacted. DSS and the

school coordinate to address his truancy. He may rebel and do something that causes suspension or expulsion from school, so be prepared.

If mother relinquishes custody and father does not legally assume custody, then SHAME on both of you. This being negative enough, if you both intend

to desert him during his most dire time of need, then the DSS should be contacted and foster care arranged.

The Dept of Juvenile Srvces can be involved if he is criminally active. He could also be reported to the police. Criminal activity, without intervention, is unlikely to cease upon his adulthood. An advantage to having the Court involvement now

is that a juvenile criminal record does not carry the sting that an adult record does later in life. On the other hand, if he knows that you reported him

then he may rebel even more and his introduction into the juvenile criminal system and the courts may

simply lead to culturing further illegal activity.

Also contact Big Brothers, a charitable foundation, and inquire about assigning him a mentor. Other

similar organizations exist, many of them are accessible for information through the internet.

Family counseling and counseling for the child individually may be needed. Consider this against those

of potential costs of his serious legal matters or worse.

But to answer your question, No you cannot be forced to take custody of your son if you don't want to. However, there are

considerable ramifications that may result if you do not make him the sole focus of your attention. There are numerous situations where parents can be held liable

for acts of their minor children. You could also be held liable for desertion of the child but this would not result in forcing custody upon you.

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