The guardian ad litem waited until the second interview before asking the question. She slid the attendance record across the table and gently asked my daughter, “Can you tell me what you and your dad talked about before you came here?” My daughter looked down at her hands for a long moment. Then she quietly said, “He told me to remember the times Mommy cried… and to tell you I wanted to live with him.” The GAL didn’t ask another leading question. She simply wrote everything down, word for word.
At the custody hearing, the GAL testified that children often arrive anxious before interviews, but that the timing of the early school pickup, combined with my daughter’s own statement, raised serious concerns about coaching. My ex insisted he’d only wanted to calm her nerves. Then my attorney introduced the school’s attendance log showing he’d signed her out exactly forty minutes before the interview—the same amount of time my daughter later described spending “practicing what to say.”
The final parenting order focused on one principle above all others: children should never be pressured to choose between their parents. The judge noted that my decision to present a single attendance record instead of making accusations had strengthened my credibility. As we left the courthouse, the GAL smiled at my daughter and said, “You did exactly what I hoped you’d do—you told the truth in your own words.” Sometimes one honest answer carries more weight than a hundred arguments.
