My ex divorced me 20 years ago. We had 10, 13 and 16 year old daughters. My experience with family court is the reason I hate the US government and the government at all levels in King County WA. And I didn’t even have to deal with CPS.
I consider all meddling governments to be pure evil.
It opened my eyes. It changed my life.
Women will always use their kids as cannon fodder in divorces. Trick is to ask her what she wants and give her all the time she wants with the kids...except full custody....and avoid the courts! Then after the fact do as you will. If she wants to change things SHE has to take it to court!
We need a level of government to deal with conflicts and unsafe environments.
But when it comes to children, the government seems to strike out more often than get on base.
One of the best topics for discussion received so far is from arthurus on this thread who suggested school counselors, but I guess that would depend on the school.
The other best topic came in an email to consider allowing relatives, aunts, uncles, grandparents to have temporary custody while the conflict gets investigated.