Thank you for all of the replies and I am glad to have sparked some debate on this topic. T
he Constitution quarantees "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (I am sorry that I don't know the exact number of which amendment this is). Although, I doubt that any parent has sued on this topic yet, the destruction of the parent child relationship with a very good reason directly controdicts these principles. As such, I believe that most Constitutional rights lawyers would say that, as long as I am up on my
child support payments (as I am) and when I ask for only enough time with my kids as needed to maintain some kind of parent child relationship, the Court's denial of that time violates this constitutional right.
Yes, I do live a long distance from my kids. This is why I asked for at least 8 weeks in the summer and I recieved only 5. Because of this distance and with the help of the psychologists, I now see my kids for 2 2.5 week blocks in the summer.
Rather than being "confused" I feel that I understand perfectly well how the system works. It has been made corrupted and dysfunctional by the "Dead-Beat Dad" label and the "child support industry" and, as such, is often destructive to the parent-child relationship.
At this time, I am still caught in the court system while struggling to maintain a relationship with my kids. My question was mostly to seek advice on how to to do this amidst all the anger and frustration created by this system and not being able to see them but a few weeks each year. You can only get so much done over the phone.
Thanks again for the advice and debate.