Baker, J.
Here, we are presented with a tragic set of circumstances. A mother of two young children (Mother) fled Missouri to escape horrible physical and sexual abuse from the father of her youngest child. Mother traveled to Indiana where she secured an order of protection. Unfortunately, Father was persistent in his pursuit of Mother, and he violated the order of protection. Father was placed on probation for violating the protective order, and his conditions included GPS monitoring.
Mother and her children lived in a domestic violence shelter, but Father found her, and the domestic violence shelter obtained an order of protection to keep Father away from the premises. Father still managed to abduct Mother twice; however, she escaped both times. At this point, the Department of Child Services (DCS) intervened and determined that the children would be placed with Mother permanently. Father’s whereabouts are currently unknown.
Mother filed a petition to have her name and the names of her children anonymously changed because she is terrified that Father will find them. Indiana Code section 34-28-2-3 requires that all petitions for a name change be published in a nearby newspaper, which Mother does not want so that she can maintain anonymity and safety. During a hearing on the petition, the trial court suggested utilizing Indiana Administrative Rule 9 to admit important evidence into the record while still protecting the identities of Mother and her children. Nevertheless, Rule 9 was not used, and the petition was denied.
We conclude that given these facts and the current state of the law, Mother’s best option would have been to utilize Rule 9, specifically Rules 9(G) and (H) to try to admit essential evidence into the record and perhaps effectuate the name changes anonymously. Although we sympathize with Mother’s difficult situation, because Mother did not employ this strategy, and we do not know what its outcome would have been, we affirm the decision of the trial court.
MAY, J., and MATHIAS, J., concur.