About 3 years ago my ex charged me with child abuse of our son. I didn’t do anything wrong, I grabbed his arm to keep him away from the stove and it left a mark. He told his mother I ‘hurt’ him and that started the whole process of a Department of Children and Families Investigation. At the end, they told me they didn’t have enough evidence to rule the abuse charge in or out. I knew I didn’t abuse my son so I took no further action. I recently applied for a job as a bus driver and was required to submit to a background check. They are telling me the child abuse charge is showing up on my record and that disqualifies me from certain jobs around children. What can I do to appeal the abuse finding or otherwise get it off my record?

My ex and I share custody of our two kids. He is emotionally abusive to them and they are getting old enough now that it’s affecting them – they are doing worse in school, acting out at home, and he won’t agree to let me put my younger son in counseling. Will proving emotional abuse be enough to get full custody of them and how do I do that? Can their teachers testify? Also, he’s supposed to be paying me child support because he earns more but he’s never on time. If I do get custody, can I get the child support increased and get it taken out of his paycheck?