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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Child custody advice

9 replies

HappyPanda23 · 24/12/2025 00:08

Hi everyone, I am currently in the process of separating from my soon to be ex husband, the marriage was difficult. Not all of the marriage was bad but I put up with a fair bit of financial control and him messing around with other women resulting in an affair. He left for the affair partner, and after the emotional fall out I wished him the best and I decided to move on. Things didn’t work out with the AP so he came back with a vengeance.

Withholding schedules, changing schedule right at the last moment resulting in me changing plans, looking through my windows, picking up and dropping the kids off at nursery and looking through the windows at work for me (nursery nurse in my children’s nursery) making tinder profiles to see what I had put on there and admitting it through text, asking my colleagues information on me and if I still worked at the nursery to try and find out information. Begging for me back the changing his mind. It’s honestly been a horrific year and I have moved back to my home town to be closer to my family. Police have been involved and my health visitor is willing to write a statement on concerns she raised about my ex she had when she first started working with the family about him. I’m worried this is going to case holy hell as police are looking to convict him of coercive control and stalking. I have many witnesses of the stalking from colleagues I worked with who would hide me in the toilets so he wouldn’t see me and tell me if he had entered the building so I could hide. I have expressed to police I don’t want anything bad to happen to him, losing his job or to be given a prison sentence, and I want him to continue having a relationship with his kids because I know he would never hurt his kids I just need his behaviour towards me to stop. This was in no shape of form malicious to stop him seeing his kids or anything like that and I wanted to make this clear.

I have never had a good relationship with my mother, she is such hard work, over exaggeration all the time, she is just highly irritating and everything has to be about her all of the time. I have cut her off a few times in the past because she’s a lot to deal with. I had a medical misdiagnosis when I was younger and I accused her for it because all she does is over exaggerate all of the time, although it wasn’t her fault. But I did blame her and still do sometimes. I was a child and I missed out on a lot. GP records show no concerns on the family and point more towards negligence of the doctors. I don’t spend time with my mother however I do encounter her at family gatherings and I act civil and leave. I do this for my elderly grandparents and siblings so I can maintain contact with them without drama.

I’m worried my coparent is going to try and use this against me because I did blame her out of anger. I’m worried he’s going to try and bring this up in court as a safeguarding concern for the kids if he finds out I’m being civil with my mother, there’s no concerns but I did blame her out of pure anger, I was a child and I didn’t understand what was going on with me. The kids are never alone with my mother anyway and like I said no safeguarding concerns on file with the family GP or other professionals. I’m terrified I’ll lose my kids because of a false allegation.. I’ve seen how this family are in a previous coparenting/custody battle and they are not nice.

I have reports from nursery, health visitor, managers of the nursery, other professionals, friends and more saying how fantastic of a parent I am with our SEN child, how proactive I am and how hard I work to enable she gets the best quality of life and how great I am with both children, they are my whole world. I even text messages even from during the separation process from my ex and his mother saying how amazing the kids are and that’s down to me.

I feel like I am living in a nightmare, I would do anything for my babies they are my world and I am so worried they are going to try and take my children.

From a very frustrated coparent and mamma 😭😮‍💨

OP posts:
Coffeislife · 24/12/2025 00:58

This is an effect of the control not a reality my lovely 🤗🤗 it is normal to be petrified I was for a while but as your perception turns back to reality you'll realise that people can see through him

HappyPanda23 · 24/12/2025 00:59

Coffeislife · 24/12/2025 00:58

This is an effect of the control not a reality my lovely 🤗🤗 it is normal to be petrified I was for a while but as your perception turns back to reality you'll realise that people can see through him

Do you think I have any reason to worry? I can’t believe im
sitting on Christmas Eve feeling this way. I have my babies this year and I just feel so sick and uneasy 😭

OP posts:
Coffeislife · 24/12/2025 01:03

Not at all, it's the panic and self doubt that stems from the relationship that causes this, you sound like you have everything documented , always keep doing that no matter how minor

HappyPanda23 · 24/12/2025 01:07

Coffeislife · 24/12/2025 01:03

Not at all, it's the panic and self doubt that stems from the relationship that causes this, you sound like you have everything documented , always keep doing that no matter how minor

It’s the part about my mother that panics me the most. I wouldn’t ever put my children in an unsafe position. I’ve worked with vulnerable children and young people for 10 years and I am extremely passionate about safeguarding, I wouldn’t ever put them in a position if they weren’t. And there’s nothing for them to be unsafe with. But I’m so scared of an accusation coming forward and the courts believing it. I can get a GP letter stating this is not th case and was just anger coming from a frustrated child who lost her childhood over a medical malpractice. I did say some pretty awful things about her and that it was her fault. I was young.

OP posts:
Endofyear · 24/12/2025 05:44

I honestly don't think you've got anything to worry about. Your relationship with your mum has got nothing to do with any custody arrangements between you and your ex partner. Please try not to worry and just enjoy Christmas with your little ones. Let the police do their job and he will have to deal with the consequences of his actions. It's not down to you if he is charged or if he loses his job - he should have thought about that before he harassed you.

ThisIsMyBurnerPhone · 24/12/2025 05:49

Try to enjoy your Christmas OP. It doesn’t sound as if there is anything to worry about. The stress has messed with your thinking. Being stalking and controlled is horrendous. Courts know that. Take Christmas hour by hour, resolve to have a good hour, then the next one.

Marmaladegin · 24/12/2025 05:57

If I’ve understood correctly, I can’t see you have anything to worry about: I think you’re saying your mum had questionable safeguarding actions with you as a child (getting you misdiagnosed) and you’re worried that this could be used against you (if ex finds out she’s around your children). Since your mum doesn’t have parental responsibility for your children, she couldn’t subject them to similar mistakes/ poor actions. Have I misunderstood?

HappyPanda23 · 24/12/2025 11:55

Marmaladegin · 24/12/2025 05:57

If I’ve understood correctly, I can’t see you have anything to worry about: I think you’re saying your mum had questionable safeguarding actions with you as a child (getting you misdiagnosed) and you’re worried that this could be used against you (if ex finds out she’s around your children). Since your mum doesn’t have parental responsibility for your children, she couldn’t subject them to similar mistakes/ poor actions. Have I misunderstood?

I was misdiagnosed with tics and Tourette’s as a child and out on medication for it, it made me very poorly. Turns out I had hypermobility and anxiety due to premature birth.

I blamed my mother due to this due to the nature of her personality and over exaggerations in the past about things.

We haven’t had a great relationship and I walked away from her, when this happened I blamed her for all of it. I was angry and I said things to my husband that I didn’t mean, I accused her and blamed her for the misdiagnosis. I’m worried they will try and put a safeguarding in against me and make allegations.

They did this in the other son’s custody battle and tried to say the mother’s partner was a paedophile and apparently these concerns were raised by the partners ex girlfriend. Guess what? They all still live together with 2 new children, no concerns.

OP posts:
Marmaladegin · 24/12/2025 13:24

i see. Sorry about your misdiagnosis but I really don’t think you need to worry about your relationship with your mother being used against you- there’s no argument for your mum being a danger to your children, even though you suffered from FII (fabricated or induced illness) from your mum, because she doesn’t have parental responsibility for them

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