What is a wellness check and how do you go about making it happen?

Question

I was told by a friend that my husband could ask for a “wellness check” because his ex gf (mother to his child) hasn’t returned his calls in almost 2 wks now. He’s called close to every day now hoping to speak to her and he’s left messages, no calls have been returned. So because of this, we want to make sure things are okay. We live 5 hrs away otherwise we would just show up on our own. I’m just curious how a wellness check is performed….if the mother is there with the child, do they tell her why they are there? Do they ask for a statement or is this just a civil matter, like a courtesy? If the mother is NOT there, do they come back again and check later? Do they write something up stating that nobody was there?

My husband can contact his child by phone daily if he wants to per the court order. And if the mother went on vacation or something, she broke her end of the court order by not letting us know she was leaving with the little girl and by not providing ....

Additional Details

...contact information to us, as stated in the court order. She also has broken her end a few other times but we try not to cause big stinks about it because it makes things worse for my stepdaughter. Oh and to add, she’s too young to call us on her own. Another year or two and she’ll be able to but until then, this is what we deal with.

Now our hopes are that the wellness check goes through and everything is okay and maybe she’ll call us afterwards. Or if something is wrong, at least we found out and hopefully can fix it. I don’t know, we just don’t know what else to do. We try SO hard to avoid fights but it’s also completely unfair that she doesn’t respect my husband as this little girl’s father. And I hate seeing him hurt because of it all. We don’t see her too often so phone conversations keep the relationship going. We can take her back to court, but for many reasons we have yet to do so.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Well, luckily it was new for both my husband and myself because we found out about this little girl together. We took the ex to court for rights and made things happen. So yes it was hard for both of us, but we have each other to stick it out when his ex acts up. It's hard, but we do it all for his daughter....

Nope, we make DAMN sure that nothing negative comes from our mouths. We actually try our best (as hard as it is sometimes) to encourage her relationship with her mother when she's with us.

We're not perfect by any means, but we try very hard and it IS very hard, given the circumstances. I just wish she would respect my husband's rights so there's no fighting at all. But even with a court order, she makes things tough....I wish I could snap my fingers and make it all better. LOL.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

A wellness check is when you call the local police department, and tell them that your concerned about a certain person, and they will go check the welfare of that person, to see if they are all right. Custody issues are never fun, especially for the new significant other. You are thrusted into a situation that took tears to deteriorate, and sometimes can feel that certain reactions from the ex is your fault. don't worry and keep your head up.

EDIT

Another sad thing I see is when the other party fills the kids head up with a load of crap about the other. If they have problems with the ex, don't tell the kid that the dad or moms a loser because you can't seem to get along with them. The kid is the innocent 3rd party, and doesn't deserve that.

EDIT
At least you can feel good about taking the high road, wish everybody did. It's a shame that people have to be the way they are.

9 years law enforcement.

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Thank you both for your feedback! Happy Holidays!

Answer 2

Wellness check just means someone is going to visit the house to make sure everything is OK. It usually refers to people who are under a court order and the case worker will do a home visit when conditions aren't met. In your case, unless there's a case worker to call, you will have to call the police and possibly file a preliminary missing person report for a "wellness check" to be done. Since it's been two weeks since you had contact with her, this wouldn't be unreasonable, although the police may give you a hard time about it.