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Country singer Mindy McCready found hiding with son

When it comes to family law troubles, celebrities are by no means immune. This past week saw a child custody battle between a famous mother and her family.

Police in Arkansas found country singer Mindy McCready hiding out in a vacant summer home with her 5-year-old son. They were located in the closet, according to the officers who had been searching for the two since they were reported missing a few days before. In an interview from her home in Nashville, she told The Associated Press during that time that she would protect her son no matter what happened.

McCready didn’t have the legal right to take the boy, whose maternal grandmother is his legal guardian. He was placed in a foster home after he was taken back from the singer Dec. 2. A court will consider whether the boy should be returned to the home of the singer’s mother.

The FBI characterized the singer’s disappearance with her son as a parental abduction. Her actions violated a court order concerning the custody of her son, and involved her taking him across state lines and into a residence where she had no right to be.

The singer has been in trouble before for driving while intoxicated and drug charges, as well as being jailed for assault on her mother, and being in the news for a claimed affair with a baseball player. She also has reportedly made several suicide attempts that led to her hospitalization.

A spokeswoman for the singer stated that she is currently in the sixth month of her pregnancy and is expecting twins. Her latest escapade of violating a court order is unlikely to convince a court to grant custody of her son anytime soon, despite her belief that he belongs in her care.

Source: ABC News, “Mindy McCready Due in Court After Son Found,” Luchina Fisher, Dec. 5, 2011

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