Wd be so grateful for advice but will try to put so much history into a succinct timeline - I left my son's abusive father when he was 3 months old, he is now almost 15 and the abusive problems seem to be getting worse. My son has symptoms of ADHD but I think it's more a case of the emotional trauma he has suffered from his controlling and bullying dad, not just towards me but towards my boy too. I lost my dad and best friend within 6 weeks of each other at the beginning of the year, turned 50 and had my son's dad arrested for abusive behaviour towards me in front of my son, this has caused his dad to mount a hate campaign against me and was instrumental in my son trashing our house whilst I was out (he had snuck a house key out whilst I assumed he was staying at his dads) When I returned I was distressed to see the state the house was in, red paint all over the cream carpets, there apparently were over twenty teenagers in the house, all drinking and messing the house up. His dad was aware of the 'social gathering', needless to say I was very angry and my son, who has temper issues also, became very defensive and said he wanted to 'live with his dad' which, having been through two major bereavements and a subsequent relationship breakdown, I threw the towel in and dropped him to his dads. He has been there ever since (against my will) but his dad has seen this as an opportunity to gain custody of my son, he is married to a woman who has never had kids and is more of a ladette than a maternal type of woman. She isn't a warm woman towards my son. My son's dad has alerted Child Benefit agency that he needs to receive this benefit, has stopped the paltry maintenance payments and has had a solicitor write to me to say that he is now the custodian of my son and until further notice he will be living with him. My son, in the main, has a 'good' relationship with his dad, they share a passion for a certain sport and dad throws a lot of money in to my son competing in this sport but over the past year or so, his dad has hit him where he has sustained bruising , he was drunk on the first occasion but not on a subsequent 'outburst' - he smashed up a tv, just lost it and this was with his wife being party to this. I advised my son's step mum at the time that if his dad ever did this again (after two separate occasions when he had bruised my son) that I would have no choice but to report him. My son struggles very badly at school with behavioural issues, he cannot cope with his dads hatred for me and towards me, his dad and step mum have both sent me abusive texts when I have attempted text contact with them about my son, This weekend, his dad has thrown a sharp object at him and this evening, after a day out with friends, (he is staying with me, which is only the third time he has stayed since he left as he is wary of discussing his desire to stay at 'mums' as this is something he is not allowed to discuss with his dad) he popped in to his dads to pick up his uniform but there was some issue about school clothing and his dad pinned my son up against the wall, taking his breath away (step mum was shouting for him to stop) my son ran into bathroom and locked door as was scared of his dad's aggression. He ran out to car with dad chasing after him , we drove off but my son was in such a bad state that I had to stop the car and comfort him. I do not know what to do as I am so scared that if I contact the police or social services then I cannot imagine the consequences. I know I would be scared of my son's safety but I am also scared of his dad and I know that by reporting him there would be unimaginable fallout. I regret allowing my son to go to live with his dad but friends and family could see that my son was getting very difficult for me to manage due to his behavioural issues and lack of respect that the general opinion was ' let him live with his dad for a while and he will soon want to come back and then he may respect you and appreciate what you do for him' but unfortunately there is no way his dad would allow this. I feel helpless as I know what I should do but am petrified of the consequences. Sorry this is so long, I am desperate for some advice as to what to do, am hoping that there may be some mums who have had a similar experience, thanks so much