Joseph Duggar Asks to Have Communication with His Kids in Filing to Amend No-Contact Order

NEED TO KNOW

• Joseph Duggar is requesting to amend his no-contact order to communicate with his four young children

• He was arrested in March on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior involving a victim under 12 years old

• His wife, Kendra Duggar, also facing unrelated charges, reunited with their children after her no-contact order was lifted

Joseph Duggar is asking the court to allow him to have contact with his kids.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Duggar filed to amend his no-contact order on Sunday, May 17. The 19 Kids and Counting alum, 31, is asking the court to allow him to have contact with his “biological children,” with whom he’s been “unable to communicate with” since March 31.

Duggar is currently under a no-contact order for minors under the age of 18, which began on March 31. The new filing states that the alleged child victim is “not a child of the Defendant” and that the continued no-contact order is “creating a hardship for the family unit.”

Currently, Duggar’s no-contact order applies to his four young kids — Garrett David, 7, Addison Renee, 6, Brooklyn Praise, 5, and Justus Joseph, 3, whom he shares with wife Kendra Duggar — as well as his two youngest siblings.

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On March 18, Joseph, 31, was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and lewd and lascivious behavior conducted by a person 18 years or older, per Florida’s Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

He allegedly confessed to repeatedly molesting the 9-year-old girl in a phone call with the child’s father and a detective with the local police department, according to an affidavit filed by authorities.

Joseph’s wife Kendra was also arrested and charged in Arkansas. A spokesperson for their family previously told PEOPLE the charges filed against Kendra, 27, are “totally unrelated” to the felony charges her husband is expected to face in Florida.

She and Joseph both face four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree and four counts of false imprisonment in the second degree, in relation to the Arkansas charges, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

On April 17, Kendra’s no-contact order was dissolved, and she was reunited with her four kids for the first time since her arrest. A judge signed off on the order the same day that she and Joseph also entered not guilty pleas to four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of second-degree false imprisonment, in entry of appearance motions obtained by PEOPLE.

Kendra and Joseph, who were due to appear in court on April 29, will now make their first court appearance on Aug. 10 in Arkansas.

Read the original article on People