“Saturday morning with my boy,” she wrote alongside a photo of the toddler, whom she shares with ex Dakota Mortensen
Credit: Taylor Frankie Paul/Instagram;Monica Schipper/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Frankie Paul posted about her “Saturday morning” with her son Ever, 2, days after the DCFS petition filing
- The DCFS asked a juvenile court to find that Taylor’s children are “abused, neglected or dependent” in the July 13 petition
- The petition is the latest in an ongoing and messy legal battle between Taylor and Ever’s father, Dakota Mortensen
Taylor Frankie Paul shared a photo of her 2-year-old son less than a week after Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) filed a petition asking a court to find that her kids are “abused, neglected or dependent.”
In the petition filed on Monday, July 13, and obtained by PEOPLE, the agency asked a juvenile court to find that Taylor’s three children — whom she shares with exes Dakota Mortensen and Tate Paul — are “abused, neglected or dependent,” and to order protective supervision and appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the children.
On Saturday, July 18, Taylor shared a photo on Instagram Stories of her son Ever, 2, playing in the sand. In the picture, the toddler can be seen barefoot in what appears to be a sandbox, holding a shovel and playing with several toy trucks.
“Saturday morning with my boy,” the reality star wrote alongside the photo, which comes less than a week after the DCFS petition.
Credit: taylor frankie paul/Instagram
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star shares Ever with ex-boyfriend Mortensen, 33, and son Ocean, 6, and daughter Indy, 8, with ex-husband Tate.
In its petition, the DCFS made a series of allegations against Taylor, including that she once “stormed out” of her own home during a DCFS visit and that her therapist once raised concerns about her “lack of investment in treatment.”
“The mother was unwilling to take accountability for her role in the domestic violence incident and continued to blame Mr. Mortensen for his role in the incident,” the Utah agency wrote in the petition. “The mother did not see how any of the concerns are impacting her children and was focused solely on how things are impacting her.”
In the wake of the filing, an attorney for Taylor wrote in a statement to PEOPLE that the mom of three was “not deterred” by the case’s transition to juvenile court and “looks forward to continuing her progress toward normalizing custody and becoming the healthiest version of herself.”
“Taylor remains fully committed to doing whatever is necessary to reach that goal and will not be swayed from it,” the statement continued. “Taylor appreciates the professionalism of DCFS and its representatives.”
Following Taylor’s response to the petition, an attorney for Mortensen and Tate said in a statement that the pair are “deeply concerned that Taylor’s statement minimizes the gravity of the action filed by DCFS and her many underlying actions that prompted such.”
Credit: Taylor Frankie Paul/Instagram
The attorney, Chad Shattuck, wrote that both Tate and Mortensen “share the serious concern that the family court system, law enforcement, prosecutors and child-welfare agencies need meaningful coordination necessary to understand the situation and act in a manner most likely to protect the children.”
The DCFS petition is the latest in an ongoing and messy legal battle between Taylor and Mortensen, which began in February when two Utah police departments opened domestic violence investigations into the couple. Their fraught relationship has consistently made headlines in the months since, particularly for the public release of a 2023 video depicting a violent altercation between Taylor and Mortensen, after which ABC called off Taylor’s already-filmed season of The Bachelorette.
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Taylor has accused Mortensen in court of stalking and, on one occasion, slamming her head into the dashboard of his truck. Mortensen has submitted photographs of physical injuries, including scratches, that he allegedly received during altercations with Taylor.
Amid the ongoing investigations, Mortensen filed for a protective order against Taylor in March, and she filed for a protective order of her own several weeks later. The orders were mutually granted for three years at a court appearance on April 30. Tate separately filed for a restraining order against Taylor on June 30, though a judge declined to grant the order the following day.
At the pair’s latest custody hearing on July 8, a judge expanded Taylor’s parent time to include alternating weekends (through Monday morning) and the same midweek day each week without overnights.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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