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We are reaching out to family, friends, community members, and all concerned parents to help save my son. I continue to pay the price for justice for my son and the custody battle to save him. As a father, I am confronted with a legal system that traditionally does not favor fathers or even treat them as equals in the eyes and actions of the family law system. Being a high school dropout, I know how important it is to have an education and a high school diploma; I don't want my son to start life out at a disadvantage. If I had a father like me dedicated to my success in life, I would not have to be playing catch up as an older man. I want my son to start out with opportunities that I had to scratch and struggle for. I also refuse to allow my son to become a statistic and follow a school-to-prison pipeline pathway. As we know, by grade 3, young, black boys are being herded down that slaughterous track. My son is a beautiful, caring, talented boy who deserves every opportunity the world has to offer him.
I have petitioned the courts to allow my son to relocate to my two-parent home with my loving wife and stepson. I am thankful to be able to offer my son a close-knit, child-centered community with several amenities within walking distance for my son to access a more robust recreational and extracurricular lifestyle: football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, theater arts, music school, and swimming. We do not wish to disparage the opposing parent; we merely want to provide my son with the best chance for life success. Our goal is to offer the other parent visitation during summers to continue building on their relationship and bond while allowing the more capable parent to steer his educational career and cultivate all of my son’s many talents. Living with his father is in his best interest for so many reasons. Help me to save my son.
AS IT STANDS NOW
- On August 5th, 2021, we attempted to enlist the support of child protective services regarding our concerns for my son's overall well-being. Unfortunately, we were belaid time and time again (the worker was on vacation, a new worker was assigned), and eventually, I was told that the case had been closed. Just five months later, my child was relocated without my knowledge and dropped out of the fourth grade after attending only one quarter in a new public school, earning Ds and Cs. During that time period, we were denied access to school records and any information leading to my child's whereabouts.
- On July 7th, 2022, we petitioned the courts and appeared for a custody and visitation rights hearing at the Chancery Division Family Part of the Superior Court of New Jersey. The other parent did not show; the Courts used child find agencies to find my son and reconvened the hearing for August 2022.
- On August 22nd, 2022, we gained a court order to compel the three schools that he has attended in the past two years to release my child's school and medical records. I was also awarded parenting time via video calls every other day.
- My son has to repeat the fourth grade. As of September 21st, 2022, my son was finally re-enrolled in school, but sadly my son lost a whole grade due to parental negligence. This horror produced an outrage in me that I have never known, and it continues to infuriate me as I write now.
- We compelled schools to release my son's transcript/ attendance records, progress reports, report cards with teacher feedback, transfer records, and absence records. We are currently in the process of tracking down pediatricians and gaining his medical records/ or lack thereof.
- Our persistence and dogged inquiries have uncovered a long paper trail of absenteeism records, including his transfer records showing that he was removed from school on December 3rd, 2021, and missed all of the rest of fourth grade.
- On July 26th, 2022, I spoke to my son for the first time in a year. Then we spoke again on September 28th, 2022. I was repeatedly told that the only way I could speak to my son was to call the opposing party’s boyfriend and “show respect” by speaking to him first. These initial calls were dominated by the boyfriend of the opposing party who was audibly coaching my son on what to say. The next call accepted by the opposing party was on October 10th, 2022. Calls did not take on any sense of regularity until the end of November 2022. At that time my son got to speak to his 4-year-old sister and other paternal relatives (Aunt - East Orange Police Detective, Godfather - Retired Newark Firefighter, and Grandmother- Retired) for the first time in over a year.
- Despite the court order calling for video calls every other day, the opposition struggles to maintain consistency in accepting my video calls, leading to my son often missing out on seeing or speaking with his father, 4-year-old sister, and his other paternal relatives. We continue to keep a detailed log of all calls missed by the opposing party.
- We had several legal consultations with lawyers to vet candidates to represent our family in this case. We decided to retain a law firm in Hackensack: NJ - Moskowitz Law Group, LLC.
- On January 19th, 2023, we appeared for a hearing at the Chancery Division Family Part of the Superior Court of New Jersey. The other parent did not show; the judge called mom on the spot and she was obviously agitated by being called while she was on the way to work. Our lawyer requested and received an adjournment to allow them a chance to review the evidence and develop our case strategy.
- On March 17th, 2023, we (along with our 7 witnesses) appeared, in person, for a relocation hearing at the Chancery Division Family Part of the Superior Court of New Jersey. The other party did not show; the judge called mom on the spot and she claimed that she never received the paperwork. Apparently, she never updated her address with the court and yet again, we needed to be rescheduled for a new court date. The judge did grant me parenting time from April 1st - April 8th, 2023. I am grateful to have had my son for the first time in two years for his visit to my home. Our hearing date for the relocation trial was set for May 12th, 2023.
- As of April 2023, my son continues to miss school and I have had several conferences with the principal, teachers and guidance counselor to discuss my son’s behavior and academic performance. I was made aware of the mom not picking up my son on time four (4) of five (5) times and he continued to be dropped off at school approximately forty-five minutes to one (1) hour late each day. As reported in an email to me from the school district attendance officer, the only reason given by mom for such egregious management of my son’s education and rampant tardiness and absenteeism is her inability to prioritize education and “get ready” each morning for school. The attendance officer reports, “Besides her rudeness, she says that she needs time to get ready…the student is 30 mins and up to an hour late, she just replies (yelling) that she needs time to get ready.” She also reported that mom ignored important messages and letters from school officials: “I called before the letter was sent but a voicemail was left because she did not pick up the phone.” At this juncture, my son’s absences impact his ability to succeed in school both academically and behaviorally. In addition, according to the US Department of Education, chronic absenteeism, or having missed 10 percent or more of the school year, is a primary cause of low academic achievement and a powerful predictor of a student's risk of dropping out of school. My son had already missed more than 10% of the 170 school days (17+) listed on the school district calendar. In fact, my son had missed 19 absences, plus 10 days missed at the start of the 2022- 2023 school year, and as of 4/30/23 calculating my son’s “TOTAL TARDY MINUTES LOSS”, he has missed a total of 2,218 minutes (equating to 40 hours) which is approximately 6.5 full school days). Adding up all the time that my son has missed from the school year shows that he missed a total of 35.5 days of school; this is more than 20% of the school year and double the point of crisis offered by the US Department of Education. My son is already nearly failing two (2) of four (4) core content subjects for the second quarter. And sadly due to mom’s educational abuse and neglect, my son started the school year with grade kindergarten to 1st grade level mathematics scores according to the math teacher at his school in Orange, NJ. Mom has done irreparable psychological damage to Tyshawn by removing him from 4th grade and keeping him out of school to retard his social, behavioral, and academic aptitudes. Only to have to start school late, repeat the fourth grade (4th) in a brand new school with no friends, no kids his age, and play catch up each day because mom is unable to arrive at school on time. Mom further exacerbates the situation by refusing to help my son complete homework or get him involved with after-school activities. In the final summation, my son had missed 29 days of the academic school year and had 54 tardies averaging 40 mins per tardy.
- My son reported to me in early February 2023 that he was home alone until his mom got off work at 11 pm and that the only dinner food he had available was microwave mashed potato flakes mixed with water. I called DCPP - child protective services to report this. My son told me that his mom told him that I reported her to DCPP and he told me that as a result of this, he's going to get a “beating'' by mom. Needless to say, this was extremely concerning to me and I informed his teachers and DCPP to be on the lookout for this. Mom continued to retaliate against me by ignoring calls and texts when I attempted to exercise my court-ordered visitation of Facetime calls with my son every other night at 7 pm.
- Since that time, we continued to build a very compelling case including 985 pages of evidence, a 41-page trial brief, and pages and pages of questions designed to get to the bottom of why my son had suffered this way. We secured testimony from friends, family, and relevant parties who were all ready to appear yet again as witnesses to my long-standing advocacy for my son's well-being and educational development. We had also filed a second motion to enforce our litigant's rights to have our current court order enforced.
We Won!!!
On May 12th, 2023, we (along with our witnesses) appeared, in person, for the relocation hearing at the Chancery Division Family Part of the Superior Court of New Jersey. The other party did not show; the judge called Mom on the spot and she once again feigned ignorance of the court date. Judge Russo advised her that the paperwork was sent to the correct address via certified mail and that she needed to appear for the trial immediately. She told Judge Russo that she was at work at Pizza Hut and that she would not appear. The judge informed her that the court would proceed without her. She said ok and hung up.
The trial lasted from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm on May 12th, 2023. The judge ordered that I be awarded sole legal and sole custody of my son! The Judge also stated that mom had to establish her own visitation rights by bringing her motion forward to court.
Despite police escort, as ordered by the judge, Mom did not immediately allow me to take my son. In fact, she threatened my life in front of both my son and the Orange Police officers who escorted me to her home. This led to a restraining order against Mom for threatening me - this case is now pending to be heard in front of Judge Corbett.
The next day, his mom met me at the Orange Police station and she finally obeyed the court’s orders and relinquished my child. It was a joyful reunion for father and son and he is now safely back home with me and my loving wife. We can’t thank you enough for following this case, supporting my family, and contributing to help us fight for my son.
NEXT STEPS
We developed this website and Go Fund Me fundraiser to centralize the collective efforts of family, friends, community members, and all concerned parents to help save my son and you came through so many times! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to give my son a new lease on life! My son is enrolled in school, has been set up with a top-notch trauma therapist, and will be seeing several health specialists to try and undo the years of medical and educational neglect that he had to endure.
HELP IS STILL NEEDED
We are still accepting donations to support my son and his many needs as he transitions into a new home where he arrived with just the clothes on his back. Our family was devastated financially and spent every dollar and have gone far into debt to keep up with over 20k in legal fees to lawyers. We will continue to update this page about my son’s transition home and our journey toward healing as a family. The mission of this page continues and we have plans to develop a nonprofit to support other fathers who need to stand up for their child’s rights to have both parents and a safe, healthy environment to grow up in. Please continue to support us as we take what we learned from this battle to help support other families in need. Thank you!
We have invested at least twenty thousand dollars for the costly, lengthy legal battle. We spent every dollar we had to fight for my son. My son is facing some of the most influential years of his development at the age of 10 years old. My desperation to save my son has inspired me to recognize the difference between a "hand-out" and help. My pride can not be the reason that I don't save my son. It is a reality that most men do not win physical custody over a mother in the state of New Jersey. However, with the help of the entire community, my son's case may is one that brings awareness to a critical issue in our country. The damage being perpetrated on black children growing up in fatherless homes continues to wreak havoc in the world today. We all lose when children's best interests can be outweighed by a lopsided judicial system where concerned, able fathers are treated as second-class citizens. It is clear that I required the support of everyone who supports my son, the health and welfare of the children, and father's rights. Please help me to save my son and other sons and daughters in need of our help.
MANY THANKS
We are asking for your help to recuperate costly legal fees. Any and all donations are welcome. Thank you for helping me to save my son. Please leave a comment or post on Go Fund Me and on www.savemyson.net. You can also reach me directly at [email redacted].