Chapter 11: Permanent Orders
By the later hearings the temporary structure became permanent in substance.
Sole custody remained with me. Contact with Vanessa, if any, stayed supervised and subject to the children’s ongoing clinical recommendations. The court declined to restore overnight or unsupervised time. The storage-room evidence and the documented assault on both girls continued to carry decisive weight. Vanessa’s explanations of “discipline” and “misunderstanding” did not overcome the physical and testimonial record.
I accepted the orders as written. There was no victory language to perform. The only relevant outcome was that neither child would again be left alone with the person who had dragged one by the hair and locked the other in a dark room. That condition was now enforceable rather than merely promised.
