A Brooklyn, NY judge decided it was better for a boy to live with his homeless father (pictured, left) in a shelter (pictured, right) than stay with his mother, a court officer who earns $90,000-a-year.Jeannette Traylor was even denied visitation rights -- despite the fact that the 17-year-old boy's dad, John Jacobs, "has been living in storefronts and borrowed rooms and basements" for years, according to the court papers. The dad "constantly misled" investigators -- and a psychologist testified that he had "severe reservations" about Jacobs' parenting skills, the papers say. "I begged the judge please not to play with my son's life," Traylor told The Post. "What my ex-husband does doesn't surprise me. But I expected better when I went to court." But Jacobs insisted to The Post that the teen is better off with him. "If I was in a cardboard box and if it was better for my son, so be it," said the dad, who lives with the teen in a city-run shelter in Flatbush, Brooklyn. "One parent is healthier for the child than the other . . . When you add the whole thing together, I'm better for the boy. That's the bottom line." The couple broke up in 1994, not long after their son was born. They shared joint custody for a period, until a judge gave Traylor primary physical custody in 2001. But Jacobs refused to accept that decision. So over the next decade, he and Traylor -- a court clerk in Manhattan Supreme Court and a 30-year employee of the system -- wound up filing more than two-and-a-half dozen petitions and motions. Their battle culminated with Family Court Judge Bernard Graham's ruling earlier this month taking custody from Traylor and giving it to Jacobs. Court papers reveal a 2008 allegation by the teen that Traylor struck him with an umbrella, a charge she denies. The judge's decision also shows that Traylor had been arrested several times, but notes that she has never been convicted of anything. Traylor said all the arrests were at her husband's request. Before rendering his final decision, the judge took a swipe at Traylor for being "quick to offer barbed criticism of the court and the legal process." In the end, the judge said, his decision was based on the wishes of the boy, a junior at a Brooklyn Catholic high school where his mother pays the tuition. The teen demanded to live with his father, telling the court that Traylor was "self-absorbed" and uninterested in his issues, the court said.For a mother to lose custody of her child to a homeless man she ought to be an awful person. Details of which court records didn't include.
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