There’s nothing more important in my life than the love that I have for my son. He means the world to me! His happiness and his well being always will come first. I never thought I’d have a chance to raise a child of my own because of my illness (schizophrenia). I thought that there was a zero possibility that I could have been so blessed! The fact is, it’s a minor miracle that I’m even in this position. I’m not my son’s biological father. I met his mother when she was already 2 months pregnant. She in fact told me initially that I was the biological father, but that wasn’t the case. I decided in the beginning to stay with his mother and raise our son together. The biological father didn’t want to be involved. Unfortunately, my relationship with his mother didn’t last. I did my best to look past her frequent cheating, but in the end, she left me when our son was 4 1/2. However, I was able to stay in my son’s life by sharing custody. I had him a little over 50% of the time and I was extremely grateful, but sad at the same time because every moment I was away from him hurt my heart. Flash forward almost two years, my mother’s son was charged and later convicted of a felony related to the death of a child. The courts granted me full custody, even though my ex girlfriend’s parents fought me tooth and nail. They believed I didn’t have any right to raise my son and that my illness made me a huge risk. Since being granted full custody nearly six years ago, my son’s mother has taken me to court every year (She received no jail time, only felony probation). She makes false claims to the court, says my illness isn’t under control, and that I’m a bad parent. So, every year I have to go to court and fight to keep custody of my son, while being attacked by his mother and her lawyer. His mother does get visitation (4 days a month), but she won’t stop until she has full custody. The pressure that comes from the possibility of being separated from my son can be overwhelming at times, but I wouldn’t change a thing because he will always be in my heart ❤️
#singleparent#dadlife#singledad#dadsofinstagram#ilovemyson#schizophrenia#mentalhealthadvocate#mentalhealthawareness
