• 14
  • December
    2011

For now, it appears country singer Mindy McCready's son will not be returning to his grandmother's house.

McCready and her custody dispute made national headlines this month when she defied a Florida judge and refused to return her 5-year-old son to her mother's home.

McCready's mother is the boy's guardian according to the child's current custody arrangement. The boy's father visits his son four nights per week and his grandparents care for him when he is not with his father. McCready's parents supervise her visits with him.

In November, McCready allegedly took her son to her home in Nashville, Tennessee during a Thanksgiving visit. She claimed her mother was physically and emotionally abusing the child. She told the media she would go to jail to protect him.

Her mother has denied the accusations.

When a Florida judge ordered her to return her son, McCready announced she was pregnant with twins and said she could not travel back to Florida from Nashville. A few days later, police officers found McCready and her son hiding in a closet in a vacant home in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services took custody of the boy, and a juvenile court judge made an initial ruling in his case Dec. 5.

The court proceedings were sealed, and no one has officially commented on what transpired. However, McCready told reporters outside the court that she is a "happy girl" after the hearing. She also sent a text message to television station HLN saying she won and her son stays.

What remains to be seen is whether she will get permanent custody of her son. The Florida Department of Children and Families still wants to see the boy returned to her mother in Cape Coral, Florida. The boy's father also hopes to have full custody of the child.

Source: Good Morning America, "Mindy McCready Leaves Court a 'Happy Girl' After Custody Ruling," Luchina Fisher and Yunji De Nies, Dec. 5, 2011