Really searching for some advice here. I have had a long custody battle with my ex-husband. He has had contact with our son stopped on two occasions now by myself. The first occasion was because I caught him taking drugs and as a result I asked for a clean drugs test before he could see our son again he failed to do this for nine months, so didn’t see his son during this time. On the second occasion, I have stopped back in March. my son had been having serious behavioural issues and was struggling to regulate his emotions, this was often coming out with extreme aggression and regular meltdown. I desperately tried to speak to his dad about this but his father refused to speak to me. He took my son out of an environment. He was comfortable in and took him to a new house where his father had a new partner another Child, and then drop the bombshell there was another baby on the way. Now, I understand he’s entitled to have a life, but his father was aware, our son seriously struggled with change and he introduced him to new environment a new partner, another child and told him there was another baby on the way all on the same day. my son went into six weeks of the worst meltdown we have ever had to deal with. Every time he came home from his dads, he was aggressive he was emotional. He would scream kick punch. It was awful. I took him to see a psychologist who told me I needed to have him valued for autism. The waiting lists are crazy long and I was told my son was at a clinically critical point. Therefore, I gathered the money together and paid privately for him to be assessed. I was completely lost in this situation, my son behaviour was so out of control and I was doing absolutely everything I could to help him, but unfortunately without a diagnosis it’s incredibly hard to access any any help. he was diagnosed with autism and I was also advised he needed an ADHD diagnosis. However I just don’t have the money for that at the moment. His father was advised of all of this and he told me he does not believe there is any evidence to suggest our son is autistic. I have given him the autism assessment, but he states that my opinion was taken into consideration when diagnosing our son and he doesn’t believe anything that I say. The diagnosis was done and accepted by our health service. It was never really questioned that our son wasn’t autistic. I believe my ex-husband is exhibiting some form of emotional abuse on me through my sons circumstances. I understand this has been an extremely long read and I appreciate anybody who has got to this point. I have recent messages saying that my sons behaviour is my fault he doesn’t trust anything that I say, or do I do not have my son’s best interest at heart and that I am dangerous. I would also like to add that when he did see his son, his contact was every other weekend Saturday and Sunday 10 to 4. When he could be bothered to come that was great, but sometimes he missed contact on two more occasions which meant our son went over a month without seeing his father., the same man who is claiming our son isn’t autistic because he knows him better than I do. I have barely spent a day away from my son since he was born. I have come out of work to look after him and give his needs my full attention. I just don’t know what else to do. I’m just looking for peoples opinion on whether or not they think my ex-husband could be trying to control me or in someway emotionally abuse me through this situation. Being told everything is my fault has had a serious impact on how I feel. It’s been a difficult few weeks. I know I have done everything in my power to help my son and to do the best I can for him, but unfortunately it has planted the seed of doubt in my head.
Again, thank you so much to anybody who has got to this point.
I do have an appointment with my solicitor on Thursday, but that still feels like a really long time away.