Photo: TikTok
Those poor children deserve better from the courts.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Apr 11, 2022
A mother from Hamilton, Ontario, is fighting for full custody of her children after posting videos of their reactions to being sent to their alleged abuser’s home for a visitation.
Nina Vidal (@ninavidal3 on TikTok) is a single mother, who says she is a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault, but her two children — ages two and three — are still forced to undergo abuse.
The mom of two has shared heartbreaking videos of her children being forced to go to their father's home.
While the mother has only reached a follower count of nearly 56,000, three of her videos have reached a collective nine million views and her posts have received almost a million likes.
A GoFundMe that her relative started has received over $1000 in donations which will be used in her legal battle but her fight is far from over.
According to the description of the fundraiser and the various videos posted to her TikTok account, she and her family have suffered from abuse from the father of her children and his family for a while.
Originally, Vidal met the man who would eventually become the father to her two children through his mother.
When one of her friends (whom she is no longer friends with) introduced her to his mother, they became friends and she was invited over one day for dinner.
“Little did I know that her son was getting divorced and decided that day to come home,” adding that although he made a six-figure income, he was in financial ruin and in a bad place mentally.
Despite that, she and the man received a push from the mother to become friends, until eventually that grew and they ended up seeing each other — that’s when the abuse began.
Initially, it started subtly with words and small spurts of aggression until it grew and became violent and harmful.
In one video, she mentions how he threw her head into the wall and threatened her, while in another she talks about a time when she was beaten and raped.
When the children were born, the abuse didn’t stop, even after the law got involved.
“The judge has dismissed all evidence of the child abuse charge, 11 domestic charges, children protective services letter where they state that they are not in favor of the father having unsupervised visits and the family doctor’s affidavit and a positive drug test,” reads the GoFundMe.
Despite all of this working against the father, the judge still ordered 50/50 custody for the children and that’s when the mother started posting the children’s reactions.
As part of the court-ordered visitation time, the mother has to be the one to deliver the children to the door of the father’s home, so in the video, you can see the mother fighting with the children to make it up the stairs to the door.
She also mentions that if she doesn’t do this, she’d lose custody of the kids altogether.
“I worry about their mental health and their feelings as they are human beings,” she says in response to comments about the children’s screams and visible terror at the idea of going inside their father’s home.
Her arduous legal battle against their father has depleted her savings, baffled doctors and child protectives services as well as everyone across social media as to how the paternal family is getting away with their behavior.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic abuse or violence, there are resources to get help.
There are ways to go about asking for help as safely as possible.
For more information, resources, legal advice, and relevant links visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
For anyone struggling with domestic abuse, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). If you’re unable to speak safely, text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474 or log onto thehotline.org.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.