I live in Colorado. I have 2 daughters under the age of 5 with a woman I was never married to. I am now married to someone else and we have a daughter together as well.

The children's mother and I have never had a court ordered custody arrangement but we have shared approx. 50/50 custody of our oldest daughter without any real problems.

Around the time that my second daughter was born my ex and I ended our relationship and my ex moved in with her grandmother.

This woman (the grandmother) has helped to take care of my children but she treats my younger daughter like she is hers and my ex lets her. Every week I would go to the house to get my girls, my ex would tell me that the younger one was sick, or that she couldn't come for whatever reason.

Because of this I started proceedings to get court ordered parenting time and my ex and I were supposed to come to an agreement and then have it signed by the judge. Every time we were scheduled to meet, my ex would not show.

Recently I learned that my ex is going through some things, staying out partying and not calling or going home for days at a time. I feel that if my ex is not taking care of our girls then they should be with me so I went to pick them up and the grandmother would not give me my younger daughter.

My ex hasn't been in the home for weeks and my older daughter has been with me since. I tried to get an emergency order to get my other daughter but the courts would not approve it. I tried to have LE go with me to get her but they said their hands are tied. I am not sure where to turn at this point.

(Sidenote) This same situation happened between the grandmother and my ex's mother when my ex was a child. The grandmother basically refused to give her her child and she then got an emergency order by lying to the court. My ex's mother fought for her for 9yrs and only finally won when the case went to the Colorado court of appeals. I need to move quickly before I end up in the same situation.