Support Craig's Fight for Parental Rights

My ex-wife and I were together for 13 years and abruptly separated in July of 2023. We have a daughter together named Delilah Jean, who is 3 and a half now. I sustained a frontal lobe brain injury (unknown to anyone at the time) that caused me to behave out of character. I was hurt and confused as to why my relationship with the woman I loved most was ending. I had become angry, agitated, and full of rage and acted out by yelling at and threatening my in-laws and getting into a physical altercation with my father-in-law. I ended up going to jail where I received more brain trauma from being physically assaulted by the other inmates for various reasons.

When I got out, I went to stay with my mother and ended up behaving similarly to how I was before. I had violated probation because my former in-laws thought I was stalking them and trying to cause more problems, but the reality was, I just wanted to be near where my daughter was because I missed her. I didn't know at the time that my ex-wife had already moved her out of where we were staying and into her new boyfriend's one-bedroom apartment with our daughter.

After I got out of jail again, I was homeless for a few months. I ended up back at my mom's where (I'm told) my behavior declined and I was self-harming again. My mother had me probated and the sheriffs came and took me to OSU Harding Hospital where I got a CT scan and they discovered multiple brain injuries. I was placed on mood stabilizers and meds for schizophrenia for a short time, but it was later realized that I didn't need them, I just needed time for my brain to heal, which I’m happy to say, I've made a full recovery and am getting my life back on the right track.

From July 2023 - Feb 2024, my wife filed for divorce, got it granted, and I was left with 1 hour a week of supervised visitations through an agency with everything moving “in phases.” The final “phase” is 3 hours a week unsupervised. As wrong as this is, SHE WON'T EVEN LET ME HAVE SUPERVISED VISITS! Her lawyer told me at the last hearing that I need to submit results from a full mental evaluation that costs thousands of dollars in order to start the “phases” mentioned earlier. To which, even the judge stated, isn't something they typically do in these situations and that SHE would need to put money down if she wants that particular evaluation to be performed. I’ve requested an assessment be performed by my therapist at Southeast Healthcare, which was, but unfortunately was not the correct type of "full evaluation" that my ex-wife is requesting in order to begin “phase one.”

My ex-wife is in contempt of her own demands. I tried to file for parent alienation in August of 2024 but couldn't get the case heard as I didn't have the funds to hire anyone reputable to represent my case in court.

It’s now been a year and 6 months since I have seen my daughter. No contact, not even so much as a phone call or video chat. I’ve hit a metaphorical wall at this point and have run out of options and am now turning to the infinite power of the internet to try and assist me in this matter. I work full-time as a tire technician, but only make $15 an hour, as it’s a new position and I am still working my way up the ranks and earning raises. The retainer fee for the lawyer is $3,500.00. I have about a portion of that right now.

This whole experience has been extremely painful, frustrating, and confusing. It continues to weigh heavily on me as more time passes.

My ex-wife has since remarried someone else that is raising my daughter as his own.

Please help me fight to be in my daughter's life and end this nightmare.

Thanks for reading.

-Craig Scites