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Please could you leave me your opinions on the out look of my situation from your previous experiences so i have some idea of what might happen in the future.
I split from my partner on March 5th this year. We have a daughter together(3 months at time of split). She has 2 sons from 2 previous relationships. I have treat these boys as my own for the whole of our 4 year relationship (one is 7 the other 11).
I have had no contact with my daughter or either of the boys since March 5th. We split becuse i questioned my ex about her lack of commitment to our relationship and as a mother, she became angry and we exchanched some views and i left the next morning after going to work after packing my things.
I work 4 nights a week from Sunday to Wednesday, and have always had a job. She has had several part time jobs over the years but seems to struggle to hold one down. Along with my job i do 95% of the cleaning, cooking, school and football training runs. Changing, feeding, bathing and entertaining my daughter and the boys. I do homework with the boys and play with them on a daily basis. I take them to experience as much of life as possible. I also do the night feeds when i am not at work. My ex spends 12 to 14 hours a day all day every day playing online Bingo. She has played this non stop for three and a half years, including kids birthdays, xmas day the night we returned home from the hospital with our daughter. She also took her laptop on holiday and played every day of the two weeks.
I have given up all my friends and hobbies apart from 1 hour of five-a-side a week which i don't go to if we have other commitments, and if it is school holidays i take the boys and go early to play with them. Occasionally i go to watch speedway on a thursday night which when i do i take the boys with me and often one or more of there friends.
My ex does the occasional meal and a bit of washing and maybe a bowl of pots.But has no interest in doing homework or playing with the kids. If she is changing or feeding our daughter she is also playing Bingo at the same time.
When we split i rang to see a solicitor straight away, i visited one that is now helping me but couldn't get help for about a month as i had to wait to get a flat and my identification to return with all the matching details, address etc.Every day from the day i left i have rang my ex but she would not answer. So i would send a polite text( i have never showed any anger or been threatening) to ask to see my daughter and to arrange some kind of payment. This went on for two weeks until she told me to stop and speak to her solicitor. I still have all the texts and phone records.
I then went to two mediation sessions, where my ex admitted i am a great dad, love my daughter very much and can do everything needed to take care of her. She says i call her paraniod and that i gave my daughter eczema. My ex has accused me of cheating and been through my phone and facebook on several occasions. I have never done anything wrong and don't have time to cheat as i am always busy with work or the kids or my ex for that matter! My daughter doesn't have eczema, i once gave her some stubble rash from kissing and blowing raspberries on her!
I admitted that i can become tired but this is down to the fact i was lucky to get 5 hours sleep a day or night(often as little as two - three hours).My partner admitted to smoking canabis on a daily basis through the relationship(i also admit to smoking through the relationship but no where near the amount and time that my partner spent). She has also admitted to the mediator that she has continued to use on a daily basis. I have not used since i left and will never use again i have also given up smoking since two days after i left.
My ex offered 4 hours at a meeting centre for six weeks then extending to a day for six weeks with further mediation to assess what would happen next. I took legal advice and agreed this is not good enough as i am capable of doing everything with my daughter, i will not be able to bath, dress, see her waking and do the daily things with her in this situatiuon. I have agreed to see her at a meeting centre just to see her but will be going to court to push for shared access. We have been signed off from mediation, my solicitor is waiting on some forms from mediation before he can send me some forms for legal aid before the court process starts.
I have done everything for things to look in my favour to back up that i did more of the parrenting than my ex, i have text messages to her drug dealer(her sister who visits regular), my solicitor says we can obtain records from her bingo accounts to show how much and how often she plays, and that she cannot be doing school runs because she is online etc. He says we can get her bank records to show how much money she spends on bingo(into the thousands).
As for the boys i expect they may not want to see me as she will have been saying bad things about me to put them off for the last couple of months. I don't mind because i don't want to cause them any more stress i just don't want them to think i gave up on them like there previous fathers.
If anyone has been through anything simular or has any advice or has any ideas what amount of time i might get with my daughter, please let me know.
I told the mediator i would like my daughter Thursday am to Friday pm one week then Thursday am to Sunday pm the next allowing the boys to have some quality time with there sister at a weekend and not just after school. The boys can come for the same time to if they wish.
Thank you
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