Father Awarded Full Custody

My Name is Michael Mendez and I am a 34yr old IT Professional. My Son, Henry James, is currently 2yrs old. I am fighting for 50/50 custody of my Son. I currently have every Tuesday and Thursday visitation from 430pm-730pm and every other Saturday and Sunday from 10am-4pm. I cherish every moment I have with my Son.

I have been fighting for the right to be in my Son's life since he was born. In order to get my rights as his Father established I had to get a Lawyer and have a paternity test done. After this was confirmed I was able to get some court appointed time with my son and I started paying child support. We have been to court several times and my visitation times have been increased from around 24hrs a month to 48hrs a month. His mother did offer to let me have Standard Visitation recently if I just drop the case for 50/50 custody.  To me that is an insult to my Son who deserves to have more time than a standard minimum.

As an Advocate of the San Antonio Fatherhood Campaign I also know what obstacles other Fathers must go through just to be a part of their children's lives. I feel it is important for Fathers to be in their child's life as much as possible for proper growth and development. A Father should not just be a means of Child support and "visitation". I feel being given "visitation" rights makes it seem like you are a criminal that gets to have time appointed by the court. I am not a Criminal. I do not have a Criminal Record or have been in any cases with Child Protective Services.

I am a productive member of society. I have a good job, car payment and Home Mortgage where Henry currently has his own Bedroom. Since May of 2012 I have been scraping money together to pay the lawyer fees and for the Social Study to be used in court but it has become increasingly difficult. This site is my last resort.

The money raised will go to the lawyer fees incurred and that will be accrued by having a Jury Trial to get 50/50 custody of my son. In the Jury Trial the Social Study will be reviewed by a Jury of our Peers. I feel the Social Study clearly shows there is no reason I shouldn't be allowed to get this custody arrangement approved.

I don't wish to take my Son away from his Mother. I only request to let my Son have the same opportunity to have his Father in his life as much as his Mother. I appreciate your time in reading my story and Thank you for any help you can give.

**UPDATE**
Since I started this page I was able to raise some money to do a BBQ Plate Sale. I had a lot of Family and Friends donate items and baked goods for the sale. I used the donation monies I had collected here to buy whatever meat was not donated which amazingly enough was the exact amount I needed after GOFUNDME took out the percentage they take out. I am truly blessed to have such supportive Family and Friends who willingly and voluntarily stepped up to help me with my cause. The BBQ was a great success thanks to the help and assistance of everyone. Pastor Sam let me use his Church which was a huge help! I have such Amazing Family and Friends. I would like to express my Thanks and appreciation to all the families that helped and participated.

The Ochoa Family
The Cortez Family
The Manning Family
The Baca Family
The Bazan Family
The Mora Family
Aunt Sunny and Christa Bell
Bea Hernandez
The Villareal Family
The Perez Family
The Vega Family
The Zavala Family
Natalie Espinoza
The Aguilar Family
and The Mendez Family. My Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister-in-Law are always there for me. I am happy to have such a great Family. I hope to be able to raise the rest of the money needed to be able to be in my Son's life more and so he can spend enough time with our Amazing Family. :)

Here is one of my many Reddit Post: http://redd.it/1k7v71

http://safatherhood.com/mediaarticles.php