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Order of protection keeps mother’s reported abusive boyfriend away from dad’s children
A divorced dad had two children with his ex-wife – an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. He wanted to protect his children from physical abuse he feared might come at the hands of his ex-wife’s new boyfriend.
Attorney Jeffery M. Leving, founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. in Chicago, will talk about this case on his weekly radio show, the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, 9-10 a.m. CST Saturday, Dec. 10 on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago.
The Leving firm secured Dad’s divorce, so when he needed help, he contacted the firm again.
According to court documents, the children’s mother was physically abused by her new boyfriend, in front of the children. She was granted an order of protection to safeguard the children too, but when she and her boyfriend reconciled, it was vacated. Without that safeguard, Dad was worried about the physical safety of his kids.
The Leving legal team gathered evidence, went to court, and told the judge about Dad’s well-placed fear about his children’s safety.
These types of cases can be hard to win for several reasons: The adverse party might claim there was a misunderstanding, or that a child’s testimony is unreliable. The Leving legal team is deeply experienced at dealing with these sorts of protestations, and this was a case on which the safety of two children hung in the balance and depended on their success in court. It may have been life or death.
“Fortunately, we won,” Leving says. “The judge granted an order of protection that bars the mother’s new boyfriend from having any contact with the children. If he does, he could – and should – go to jail. The judge also ruled that the mother’s parenting time must be supervised. These are two important victories, modified for broadcast, that I believe should protect these children. This dad did the right thing by calling us, and I’m both proud and relieved that we were able to bring peace to him and his family.”
Leving also will speak about his article which was published in the Chicago Sun-Times lamenting the scarcity of songs about good fathers. The American songbook is full of songs about absent and indifferent fathers.
“Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of a new song about fatherhood that has struck a chord with many – gaining 350,000 views on TikTok in just a few days,” Leving says.
The song, called “Checking In,” is from singer-songwriter Michael Farren, and when he first performed it at the Listening Room in Nashville shortly after writing it, he said “It wrecked the room. Grown men sitting there crying at a public place.”
“As a father myself and someone who works every day to protect fathers’ rights, it is refreshing not only to learn that there’s a new, positive song about fatherhood, but that it’s being so well received by the public,” Leving says. “It’s long overdue.”
Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is a strong advocate. He is the author of Fathers’ Rights, Divorce Wars and How to be a Good Divorced Dad, the latter of which was endorsed by President Obama and by Cardinal Francis E. George, then the archbishop of Chicago. To learn more about Leving and his latest court victories, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and view his videos on You Tube.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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