[BrandyHagz]

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I will post at any rate.

Do I think you can use it against her? Well, no…probably not. I doubt your lawyer would want to submit evidence where you represented yourself falsely in order to get the information.

Now having said that, I will say, you lied to her, what’s to say she didn’t lie to you? It isn’t first hand knowledge…

If I were the stepmom in this case, I would report any abuse I suspected to the Department of Children and Families, or whatever the Child Protective agency is called in your state. If, in fact, the children are being neglected, they will be removed. At that point, you could pursue the options offered by that department…but usually when another parent is able to care for the children, there isn’t a termination of parental rights involved, it usually only involves an amendment to the custody order. Of course, this could vary by state.

Another option would be for the father to fight for custody, but this would be separate from petitioning for adoption. At least at that point, the child will be out of danger, if in fact, the court finds in favor of the father. Then, once the child is in his father’s custody, you could petition for adoption, and go from there.

Either way, if there is abuse or neglect in the house, the child needs to be removed, by either DCFS, or by court order of custody, as soon as possible.