Here is my story:
I have a six and a half year old daughter from a woman I dated at one time, however was not technically dating when she got pregnant. After my daughter was born she did not allow me to have her at all. The only time I could see her was if her mother was with her. We went to court when my daughter was 9 months old and I was given visitation of her every other weekend. This wasn't great, but at the time I was ecstatic to just be allowed to see her! The following spring after my daughter had turned 5 (her birthday is in January) I attempted to go back to court to get more custody of her. I felt like I was missing out on so much of her life and wanted to be able to more involved and have more of a connection with her during the week versus a phone call here or there that her mother would allow me to have. Anyways, we went through the whole mediation process and such and her mother would only agree to allowing me to have her one extra day a week. Even her own lawyer made comments to her during mediation about allowing me to have more time with my daughter, but it didn't help. I didn't want to accept only one day and was ready to go to court and let a judge decide, however then came the big issue. My lawyer advised me of the cost that it would be and basically told me that there would be no way I could afford to follow through with it. So yet again I was forced to settle with a less than wonderful situation. After it was all said and done I ended up having to pay an extra 30 dollars a week in child support bringing it up to almost 500 dollars a month and am allowed to have her every Wednesday evening and every other weekend.
I am not trying to completely trash my daughters mother here, but she is not the world's greatest mother. She has worked maybe 3 years out of my daughters life and within that time had 4 different jobs, never full time. She has a second daughter (a 1.5 y/o) by another man who she is not with. When her second child was 3 months old she moved in her now fiance. Since my daughter has been born she has lived in 5 different places.
I just want to know what do I have to do so I can afford to get help so I can see my daughter more. 8 days a month just does not cut it, especially when her mother is so uncooportive about allowing me to see her any extra.
Thank you in advance for any and all help.
I have a six and a half year old daughter from a woman I dated at one time, however was not technically dating when she got pregnant. After my daughter was born she did not allow me to have her at all. The only time I could see her was if her mother was with her. We went to court when my daughter was 9 months old and I was given visitation of her every other weekend. This wasn't great, but at the time I was ecstatic to just be allowed to see her! The following spring after my daughter had turned 5 (her birthday is in January) I attempted to go back to court to get more custody of her. I felt like I was missing out on so much of her life and wanted to be able to more involved and have more of a connection with her during the week versus a phone call here or there that her mother would allow me to have. Anyways, we went through the whole mediation process and such and her mother would only agree to allowing me to have her one extra day a week. Even her own lawyer made comments to her during mediation about allowing me to have more time with my daughter, but it didn't help. I didn't want to accept only one day and was ready to go to court and let a judge decide, however then came the big issue. My lawyer advised me of the cost that it would be and basically told me that there would be no way I could afford to follow through with it. So yet again I was forced to settle with a less than wonderful situation. After it was all said and done I ended up having to pay an extra 30 dollars a week in child support bringing it up to almost 500 dollars a month and am allowed to have her every Wednesday evening and every other weekend.
I am not trying to completely trash my daughters mother here, but she is not the world's greatest mother. She has worked maybe 3 years out of my daughters life and within that time had 4 different jobs, never full time. She has a second daughter (a 1.5 y/o) by another man who she is not with. When her second child was 3 months old she moved in her now fiance. Since my daughter has been born she has lived in 5 different places.
I just want to know what do I have to do so I can afford to get help so I can see my daughter more. 8 days a month just does not cut it, especially when her mother is so uncooportive about allowing me to see her any extra.
Thank you in advance for any and all help.