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I need help and advice with texting messages. Any ideas? What do you do?

LaMareOssa's picture

DH gained custody of SD10 back in January. Things have actually been going quite well...except for the unacceptable text messages from BM.

I wrote about this yesterday..BM saw SD on Sunday and gave her a birthday card, but in the card, it talks about how BM and SD will not be in this situation next year. Then DH went through SD's phone because she was acting strange. BM was telling SD that she is going to get a parenting investigator(goodluck with that,BM) BM told SD that she needs to tell the investigator that she wants to live with her mom, she is miserable here etc etc. BM also asked SD "Did you tell your dad what you want yet?? Make sure you tell him how important this is to YOU" BM wanted SD to tell DH that she wants to live with her BM again--Like she has a choice, unfortunately.

DH called BM. No answer. So DH texted BM lastnight and told her she needed to stop sending the inappropriate messages to SD or he would have to monitor their conversations through him. BM never responded to DH, but she must have texted SD and told her to delete all of her messages from her phone after reading them because her phone was empty.

DH sat SD and explained to her that living here is permanent and that BM might get unsupervised visits sometime in the far away future. He explained that it's not OK for BM to send those type of messages to SD because it confuses her and gets her excited about something that is not going to happen. DH said that SD hardly said a word. He said that he will monitor her phone from now on and if she gets anymore messages like that, that he will block her text messages or if her phone continues to be empty (messages getting erased) He also told SD that he is very sorry that things are this way and he would love if BM would do what she needs to do to get more time with SD, 6e said that we all love her very much blah blah.

Anyway.... I spoke with Sprint and there is no way to archive texts or to have them sent to our email. There is no way to see them unless we look in the phone, but after theyre deleted theyre gone forever. DH really doesn't want to stop the texts between SD and BM, but he will if he has to.

How do all of you monitor text messages? Do you have a block?

Comments

LemonGrassLove's picture

Actually (And this is Verizon) all text messages are kept by the company but because everyone is sending so many they're easily avaliable for about a second after they're sent or recieved then they're archived. We were told we'd need a court order to get any message history.

LaMareOssa's picture

Sprint said I could mail in a form to get all text details, but not read the texts. I can see how many texts were used and even if I got the the detailed list, it's not helpful. I have seen programs online to "spy" on cellphones, but I think theyre all based on Iphones, smartphones, Droids etc...

LaMareOssa's picture

DH originally got the cell phone for SD because BM would never answer her phone so he could speak with SD. I agree, a 10 year old does not need a cellphone. It has locks on it, so she only has a few numbers she can call or text. I think he should block BM's number..but thats just me.

stormabruin's picture

If there's no kind of order to allow texting between them, I would go ahead & have them blocked now. If she wants to speak with SD she can call the house phone or your DH's cell. She's shown that she can't behave & needs to be monitored.

LaMareOssa's picture

I told DH lastnight that technically, he doesn't have to allow BM to speak or text with SD AT ALL if he didn't want to. In their new final parenting plan, DH has sole custody and decision making and also it says "ALL contact with child shall be supervised at such and such place"

It says all contact..not physical contact. I dont think DH would actually stop their phone contact for fear of SD resenting him. Ugh. Bullshit if you ask me Smile

stormabruin's picture

I agree that it is bullshit. He was granted sole custody & decision making because the court trusts him to responsible choices in regards to his daughter. BM has shown she cannot behave appropriately in her communication with their daughter & it's your DH's responsibility to take the reins here.

If the order states that ALL contact should be supervised, it means ALL. It doesn't mean supervise contact as you choose.

SD is going to be angry & hurt regardless of what your DH does. Her mother is a POS. Any child would be angry & resentful over that. Yes, she may act out, but if he will change this now & hold to the order she will accept that that's just the way it is. He can explain that the judge made it so in the order & that if he goes against what the judge orders HE will be in trouble. That might help take some of the heat off of him, & it's honest.

CrazieCoconut86's picture

I agree with Not The Maid, 10 year olds don't need cell phones. If you still want them to have one for emergencies, get one of the ones where you can preprogram in 4 phone numbers. I also think your DH should force BM to call the house phone. That way you will always be aware of when SD is talking to BM.

3littlemonkeys's picture

I'll tell you what I did...

First, the child needs to have a smartphone for this to work.
There are products on the market that you can install that will save you a copy of every text message sent AND received. The one I used was cellphone recon. I logged into their website and could view all texts. There's also a GPS monitor, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. You can download texts into excel and keep a permanent record of days, times, and content.

Who pays for the cell phone? You or BM? That could factor in.

http://cellphonerecon.com/

3littlemonkeys's picture

Well, then, he can do this. You can't violate privacy issues, which is why I asked who paid for it.

Check it out. I think it cost $100 or so. Worth every penny.

Until, of course, your SD gets an iTouch and has wifi available and just uses a free text app to send and receive texts... Smile

3littlemonkeys's picture

It was a pretty nifty tool for me with a teen when I needed it. Smile
I no longer use it. He's back on track.

LaMareOssa's picture

Good idea...see how many texts shes using and if it doesnt add up on her phone then obviously shes deleting them. I will have to wait until april to get an exact amount..thats when new minutes and texts start Wink

LaMareOssa's picture

I'm thinking so. He is really afraid of hurting SD. And by telling her she cant talk to mommy will definitely upset and hurt her. :sick:

stormabruin's picture

It doesn't have to mean she can't talk to mommy. Mommy just needs to go through daddy's phone to reach her. No harm in that.

LaMareOssa's picture

Thank you everyone for all of your help. I will talk with DH tonight and explain that obviously things are being said that should not be, hence the deleting. Even if DH is able to monitor and read the texts, it will still continue as long as BM can send texts. I will explain the seriousness of this to him. And also point out...again...that they have supervised visits for a reason and that there should be no contact (unless through his phone) outside of the supervision.

Ex4life's picture

I had this problem with Ding Dong. We actually just discussed this in front of a judge less then a month ago. I had to block Ding Dongs number as well s that of his mother because of inappropriate texts, the number of text messages as well as the number of calls.

Ding Dong tried to tell the judge that I was limiting his contact with the girls. He also stated that I would never let them talk to him on the home phone or on my cell. After I proved that the girls were talking to him on my phone the judge declared that I was not limiting his contact. After that he told Ding Dong that a child having a cell phone is a privilege and not a right, he should not have unrestricted access 24 hours a day and that he is more then able to contact the girls on our home phone or on my cell. I am allowed to keep his numbers blocked.

I would seriously do the same thing if I were you. Children do not need to read or hear the crap your skids are dealing with.

Kilgore SMom's picture

You may tell him he is violating the supervised visitation order. (in a way). Because monitoring what gets said is a part of supervised visit. The purpose for that is to keep these parents from PASing their kids and casueing emotional harm. Bm telling her to out and out lie is reason enough to take her phone. Not includeing the fact that sd is now trying to hide the text from Bm by deleting them. Your DH should not put up with that behavior. By him doing so he is teaching SD that it is ok to lie. Lieing is the reason to take the phone and not give it back. On a land line phone radio shack sales a device that you can hook to the line and a recorder, it will recorder the calls and you can listen to them later. That way SD doesn't know that she is being recorded while talking to BM. SO here what I suggest.
1.) catch SD lieing about the deleting the text and take the phone away as punishment.
2.) get the recorder hook up to the phone and let BM and SD lies hang them.
3.) then there you have a reason to take away phone privileges all together, plus you have on tape Bm PASing SD.

Not that you could use it in court but, I wouldn't tell anyone that.

Jsmom's picture

Just take the phone away. She can't be trusted...She is deleting them and BM is undermining DH. She can call on the house phone and I would put her on speaker until she proves she can behave. The courts gave her supervised visitation for a reason...