Alcoholism - How do i protect our child?

[gollymolly]

i'm sorry. i do realize there were some good points in everyone's posts.
however, my agenda is not to reduce the already small amount of time my daughter has with her dad.

i fear for the situations she is being placed in and i understand that i will not always be able to protect her, but Lord help me if something happens to her and i didn't step up to try to prevent it... i will never forgive myself.

other than the drunk driving with her, he has come to my house after me with a gun (with her in the truck)... on the cellphone the whole time saying what he was going to do to me. scared me to death. i called the cops. i guess he saw them and turned around and left. i was afraid she would never make it home that night.

i am afraid of the parties he has at his house because, when we were married i was beaten and almost raped by one of his drunken buddies while he laid past out next to me in our bed.

what about supervised visitation? do you think that would do as much harm to her?
i'm grasping at straws here. i don't know what to do.

[gemini3]

Wow... that's some serious stuff.

If you haven't already you should file for an order of protection.  

Find out if your state is a one party or two party state in regards to recorded phone conversations.  One party means that only one person needs to know the call is being recorded to be admissible in court.  Two party means that both parties need to know.  If it's a two party state, send him a letter via certified mail stating that, due to a history of harassments and threats, you will be recording all phone conversations from now on.  Also begin every phone conversation with him by saying "I want to let you know that I am recording this conversation."  Sometimes that's enough to stop the harassing phone calls.  If not, then you have some great evidence when you go to court.

You could request supervised visitation, but you would need to prove why it was necessary.

Does your area have a legal aid office?  Go to the clerk of court and ask - you might be able to get a lawyer at a reduced rate.

If you know that he is driving drunk with her in the car, call the police and report it.  Tell them what kind of vehicle, the license plate, where they are and what direction they are heading.  If he's charged with DUI with her in the car then you'll have some ammunition.

Good luck.