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Mindy McCready Child Custody Battle Continues in Court

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on December 05, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Country superstar Mindy McCready's child custody battle is headed back to court today -- another chapter in a long dispute with her mother over McCready's 5-year-old son.

Police found McCready, 36 and pregnant with twins, hiding in a closet with her son at her boyfriend's home in Arkansas Friday night, ABC News reports. The boy was placed in foster care.

Today's court hearing in Arkansas will determine whether the child should be returned to his legal guardian, McCready's mother.

Mindy McCready lost child custody of her son in 2007 after Florida child welfare agents claimed she had a drug problem, the Naples Daily News reported. They also felt the boy was undernourished in McCready's care.

McCready, a multi-platinum-selling country singer who released her fifth album "I'm Still Here" in 2010, apparently took off with her son last week, during a scheduled visit with the boy's grandfather in Florida.

McCready claimed her son's life was in danger while he was living with her mother. McCready and her mom don't get along; McCready has been arrested for assaulting her mother in the past.

A social worker called police after McCready ran off with the boy. FBI agents were called in, and labeled the incident a "parental abduction."

McCready defended her actions in an interview last week with the Associated Press. "I'm a mom first. No matter what happens, I'm going to protect my kid. If I have to go to jail, so be it," she said.

You can watch the AP's report here:

McCready was not arrested when her son was taken into foster care. But if Florida decides to prosecute, the country star could face felony charges of violating a court order and taking her son across state lines.

McCready suffers from severe depression and has made several suicide attempts, Entertainment Weekly reports. She has been busted for DUI and for drugs, and has gone public with her personal problems, appearing on the TV show Celebrity Rehab 3 last year. These factors could also play into the judge's decision in Mindy McCready's child custody case.

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