yes, the principal described the story as this: my daughter was swinging on some bars, and in front of her was a vertical pole. She was basically singing away from and towards this pole, and her hands slipped as she was arcing towards the pole. Her legs were apart and the pole hit her squarely between them. This does sound believable to me, and while I won't brush this under the carpet based on that alone, I do feel better.

I feel kind of meh about answering questions about the specifics of the custody arrangement, but in thinking about it I realize that the reason I don't want to answer is not because of the privacy issues but because I am so conflicted myself about what happened and why my children live with their father and his girlfriend instead of me. I don't want to talk about it because I hate putting the whole sorry story into words.

But. I absolutely understand why people would wonder, and anyway if anyone cared to read my posts here on PC they could find out. I appreciate the support I've gotten at PC in general and in this thread specifically. So, in a nutshell, I attempted suicide. When I was in the hospital recovering, my husband decided to begin separation/divorce proceedings. He got a restraining order, based on my suicide attempt ALONE, that stopped me from being able to go home or even contacting my children. Then we began the course of hearings and court dates, eventually I was allowed supervised visits for a time and then unsupervised ones, and now I have them every other weekend. That's what happened. It wasn't right, or fair, and my kids have suffered the brunt of it, but the judge involved felt he had to err on the side of caution since my mental state was in question.

As to my husband's (and I realize I vacillate between calling him my H and my EX. Legally we are still married, but in every other way he is my ex) status as a sex offender, unfortunately I never reported the sexual abuse and so there is nothing in terms of charges or convictions, etc, against him.

I imagine you, some of you, will judge me for that as well but I hope not too harshly. I came from a history of CSA and then a brutal SA just before I met my husband. I did not know any other life and did not think anyone would care or listen to me if I told them my husband was abusing me that way. I did not know there was such a thing as a law against partner rape.

it is a person, in this case an attorney, appointed by the judge to represent the best interests of the child/ren in court. It's fairly common in custody cases. She doesn't work for or represent either myself or my soon-to-be-ex, she represents the children only. She will have to make a report to CPS based on my conversation with her about this incident. I believe the school may have done so, too, as well as my T and myself of course.