It was in a mobile home Friday night that Las Cruces police said they found an 8-year-old disabled girl in a wooden, homemade crate.

Police say the girl had been there for hours while the couple, charged with her care, went to a movie at a school just down the road from their home, with their three other kids.

As KFOX 14 has reported their names are Cindy Pariarchias and Edmond Gonazales.

Police said the 8-year-old girl was in the process of being adopted by Pariarchias.

After KFOX 14's story aired Monday, the station was contacted by a woman, Pamela Habison.

She said she is the grandmother of two of the four children who were taken into state protective custody over the weekend after their mother was arrested for a charge of abuse - negligently cause.

Habison said, in an email and over the phone, her son, Kenneth Forrister, should have had custody of the kids all along.

But she says it's been a fight for some 11 years.

This is something one Las Cruces family attorney said he understands.

"We see a lot of custody battles. And it seems like fathers have an uphill battle, yes," Michael Cain said.

He said that can translate into a preconceived notion of what's best for the kids.

"I think judges, being human beings, still think the babies need to be with their mommas. So I think we start out with that sort of bias against dads," Cain said.

Cain suggests fathers looking to fight for custody should hire a professional.

"A guy who walks into one of those hearings without an attorney, he's really fighting an uphill battle."

Cain's paralegal, Maggie Mitchell said both sides should keep their children's best interests in mind when it comes to who gets the kids.

"I don't think a lot of people realize just how traumatic this is on children," Mitchell said.