Alright, the rundown in a nutshell on the situation that has consumed me for the past week...
Last Sunday I received a call from my ex-wife's husband stating that she was in jail for domestic violence (2 counts - victims being her husband and her husband's son). The violence is the main reason I left her and we divorced. Since my ex was awarded custody of our daughter in the divorce proceedings back in 2005, I had regular visitation. It just so happened to be one of the weekends that my daughter was with me. So, with nowhere else for her to go I was glad to have my daughter stay with me. Since I could not take her to work I had to take some days off. I immediately called around for legal advice on how to obtain permanent custody. I had a couple appointments with lawyers on Wednesday and they all seemed pretty confident. I had to stop off at the records dept at the county offices for my daughter's birth certificate when my wife called. She told me she had a message from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and that they needed a call back. I figured my ex was up to something crazy so I asked my wife to call them back. She called me back within 15 minutes crying (tears of joy) saying that the DCF wanted to place my daughter with us for protection from the mother. Apparently, my ex has been the subject of investigation for some time now; I did not know about it because my ex was not cooperating with the investigators and would not give them my info. After the DCF investigators came out to the house and observed my family all together they filed a petition stating that they wanted her to stay with us. There was an emergency court hearing on Friday morning where I was granted temporary custody and my ex was ordered supervised visitation only. I just forwarded the documents over to my lawyer so he can check it all out tomorrow.
Tomorrow is back to work for me and off to school for my daughter. Things were crazy this past week but all ended well. Time for a good night's sleep...