Britney Spears loses child visits

Oct 19, 2007, 12:30 GMT

08/31/2007 - Britney Spears - © Terry Thompson / PR Photos

Britney Spears has had her visitation rights with her children suspended.

The troubled 25-year-old singer had been granted overnight visits with her two children - two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James - but all her visitation rights have now been removed after she couldn't be contacted by court officials who needed to arrange her next court-ordered drugs test.

The order came from Los Angeles County Commissioner Judge Scott M. Gordon after Kevin's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan called an emergency court hearing on Thursday (17.10.07).

A friend of Kevin's said he was prompted to call the hearing after Sean and Jayden returned to his house "crying and surly" after spending time with their mother.

The friend told E!: "They came back to his house, and their eating schedule was off, their sleeping schedule was off, and they won't listen to him, because he knows they haven't been getting any discipline at her house.

"He has to start all over, getting them settled again, calm them down and reintroduce them to their normal schedules. And it's frustrating for him. He's been tolerating this for a long time, but he thought maybe it would get better with a monitor involved. It hasn't.

"He believes the only way she'll start paying attention to her responsibilities is by making her feel the consequences of shirking them. Kevin keeps saying he's genuinely scared for the children's safety."

According to a friend of the singer, Britney had given the court her correct number, but because of a lack of reception in her house, the phone call couldn't be connected.

After temporarily losing full custody of the children to Kevin on October 1, she was granted one overnight visit with the pair per week as long as she complied with a long list of court requirements including random drug tests, working with a parenting coach and counselling.

Both Kevin and Britney will have to go to court on October 26, when the singer's parenting coach will submit a report to the judge.

(C) BANG Media International