Newby

[user1479392846]

Hi everyone,

I am new to single parent forums but thought I’d give it a go as I now feel I need all the help I can get. I’m a single parent dad working full-time and have my 15-year-old daughter living with me since 2009. My daughter’s mother lives and works in London and my daughter visits her mother every other weekend. I was divorced from my daughter’s mother in 2011 after we had separated in 2008.

I find the going quite tough sometimes especially as the relationship with my ex-wife (the mother) has always been difficult with zero trust and constant break downs in communication. I wish things were different as I don’t enjoy the conflict and would do anything to develop a better relationship with my ex-wife as I know it would make my daughter’s life easier and happier.

To cut a long story short, my ex-wife is a South American national and in 2008, after taking part in a 7-year marriage with me in the UK, abducted my then 7-year-old daughter and took her to South America without my permission. Eventually, a year later in 2009 she brought my daughter back to the UK and I immediately went to court to apply for a residency order, which I was granted.

My daughter has coped well with the state of her parent’s (non) relationship up to now but I’m not saying it has been easy for her. She is a good strong bright kid and quite independent but I worry that the upcoming year is going to be the toughest for her yet as she has her GCSE exams next spring. I want to do everything I can to support her through this period but I know I will only be able to do this if I can develop a good support network for myself (I’m a bloke and most of the time like to think that I can deal with anything – recently though I’ve felt the pressure cranking up my self-preservation instinct is kicking in), which is the main reason for writing this message on this forum.

It would be great to hear from other single parents who are in similar positions. In particular, single parent dads with teenagers and single parent mums who may have teenagers with South American dads?

Thanks for reading.
Dan