Husband Refuses Divorce, Keeps Calling Cps On Wife.

Location: This is in Ontario County, NYS.

I am writing this for my friend. She is a green card holder (english is her second language which can complicate legal jargon), and is married to an american GI.

She has two children with him, young but school age.

She has a large family, but her husband has moved them to NY, which has essentially isolated her.

He has a history of calling CPS on her when they get in fights, and last year accused her of being suicidal where they sent her to the psyc ward until they found her sane and well the same day she was admitted.

The 4-5 claims he has put against her with CPS have all been found unsubstantiated.

This went downhill quickly as of 2 months ago, in September.

She was in the car with her husband and two kids, husband was driving. She told him she wanted a divorce and had scheduled an appointment with a mediator. He became very upset and yelled at her.

That night, she went and slept at a friend's house across town since she was afraid of him.

The next day she went to work, then went to her apartment she shares with her husband and kids, and started putting them down for the night.

He then came into the room and told her the cops were there to talk to her.

Turns out the previous night after she left, he called the police and said she had grabbed the steering wheel in a rage and tried to drive them off the thru way.

They believed this and the cops did not allow her to explain her side of the story, which is hard as english is not her first language and she didn't fully understand what they meant.

They took her to jail overnight and gave her a notice of protection? A document that stated she could go to jail if she was aggressive with her children.

Her husband's name was not on this order, just her kids. They originally filled it out so she could have NO contact with her kids, but the officer drew a line through it and initialed.

The document was horrible quality, like a diagonal photo copy of a photo copy.

After getting out, she got a call from CPS stating she was reported by someone, they found pinch marks and bruising on her kids. Those marks were not there when she was taken to jail.

She is having trouble with our local government offices, but this is rural NY.

She is the one caring for the kids. She has been staying with friends and just rented a room in a quiet house for professional women.

She is the one caring for the kids. She cooks for them, buys them groceries, and does the parenting. Her husband is seemingly not.

She takes them to her apartment on weekends, and drives to her and her husband's apartment on weekdays.

The kids are very upset and miss her dearly. He is feeding them information about how she is bad and in jail.

CPS just called her, as her husband has put in another claim which they sent a letter saying was substantiated. This came with no information as to what the claim was.

She is really in a bad spot. She does not have legal representation and does not have alot of cash to burn.

What can she do legally to protect her and her kids? Is there a way to stop the constant unsubstantiated claims?

Her previous case for the fraudulent driving off the road claim was dropped by the court. She has a public defender.

We have reached out to domestic violence groups but they have not really gotten back to her.

Also, why do the police never hear her side and just take her away? This seems to be different from many of the similar situations I have seen. Why don't they say it's just a civil issue?

Thank you so much, anything will help.