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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Long story short: My husband is verbally and emotionally abusive and has threatened physical violence. I've been trying to make it work because we have 2 small kids.

I've been waking up every time with our baby (now 10 months). Sunday night, i was up with him 5 times and was exhausted (I WOH). So the following morning (yesterday) I told my husband I needed help and that I expected him to feed the baby a bottle overnight. He's never fed the baby. He didn't say anything to that.

I asked him to do this once previously, about a month ago when I was very sick, and he threatened violence. I told him that was unacceptable but... he still didn't feed the baby. I was too sick to fight with him over it. I fed the baby.

Last night I left the formula and a bottle on the counter and I left the monitor on next to his bed (I sleep in a room with the baby, he sleeps downstairs so the baby doesn't bother him). I texted him that I was going to sleep and I thanked him in advance for helping me get a better night's sleep.

He turned off the monitor and went to sleep.

When the baby woke up, I brought him downstairs, woke up my husband and put the baby on the bed with him. I told him the baby needed a bottle. I went back upstairs.

He brought baby back upstairs without feeding him, put him back in his crib. I brought baby back to him, said he needed to be fed.

Husband again threatened violence, then called the cops, accused me of provoking him to violence and of trying to make him do something that would work against him in a custody battle (I wasn't - I just wanted him to feed baby so I could sleep). Cops came. It was crazy. I can't believe he would do something that would possibly get our kids taken away from us.

He has been accusing me of manipulating him into doing something that would get him in trouble. He was very clear to the cops that he was the one to contact them, as if I were the wrongdoer in the situation, and very sure that he was extremely well-behaved in front of them. I have not yet contacted a lawyer. As I said, I've been trying to make this work. I just wanted him to feed baby a bottle so I could get a couple hours of sleep. But I think I'd better contact a lawyer now.

Any lawyer recommendations?
What else should I be doing? I'm in therapy. I've got some money. I have parents who can help.[/quote]

I would think, even if the cops just took statements while they were there, would do a report to CPS.

Did they ask you if you had ever been threatened? Were the cops ever told that handing him his own baby was what your husband regarded as provocation? Did they ask if you felt safe? Did he tell the cops he might end up hitting you or injuring the baby if you kept "provoking" him? Did they encourage you to stay somewhere else at least for the night?

I agree about the hot potato act with the baby--this is not a situation where you should be trying to make it work. He is actively refusing to care for his child. Thanking him in advance is not going to fix that, he does not care, he sounds pathological. [/quote]

There was another incident, a few months ago, where he handled our 3 y/o roughly. I got upset, my husband said I was being crazy, but he eventually apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. A family friend saw it. She is a mandated reporter. I don't know if she reported it.

The cop who took my statement asked for my kids' names, ages, birthdates. As that was happening I realized that CPS could be called, and I didn't want to risk the kids being taken away. So I said I did not think that they were not in physical danger, but that my husband is emotionally and verbally abusive.

My husband himself told the cops that I provoked him by waking him up and putting the baby on the bed. He told them I was trying to provoke him to do something bad. He told them about past episodes of what I considered to be violence (smashing a bowl, throwing my things out of the house).

I was exhausted, holding a crying baby, barely dressed, and didn't have my glasses on. I tried to keep it together, spoke calmly and rationally, but unfortunately I think my husband came off much better than I did. They did not encourage me to get somewhere safe. They told me to go to counseling with him, and I explained that's not recommended in situations of abuse, but they kept suggesting it. They told my husband to go somewhere else if he didn't want to be there, and suggested that he set up cameras to record what goes on to protect himself (he told them he had called them to protect himself against my baseless accusations of abuse).

I think cameras are a good idea, but of course if he has control of them there's no reason to think he wouldn't delete anything that incriminates him, so obviously I'd need to have my own.[/quote]

Was this the putting on shoes incident at a party?[/quote]

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