Legal fees for custody of my son

I am raising funds for legal fees to gain full custody of my 7 year old son.

Five days ago I had a call from child protective services explaining my son had been taken to his great grandparents after an incident involving his mother in his presence, resulting in her being taken into hospital due to mental health concerns.

Unfortunately this is not a new concern but it is the first time the authorities have taken action. I was told to collect him and not to return him until the matter has been resolved in court. I was told to seek legal advice and go to court for full custody.

Any attempt to resolve this amicably with his mother have been met with verbal abuse directed at my wife, his 3 other siblings (one adopted) and myself.

The same day I received a letter from his school explaining his attendance is 84.12%, he has missed 40 sessions of school, he has also been late on 20 occasions amounting to a further 20 hours of missed learning time.

This time from school has meant he has struggled to create the strong bonds his other classmates have forged, he complains of being bullied and says he struggles to make friends.

Let me just reassure you that right now, he is here, he is safe, he is happy and he is well.

I took the day off work today to ring the relevant authorities and seek legal advice, my worst fears were confirmed when I was told the minimum cost would be £3000.

Unfortunately I am not in a position to pay these fees as I am budgeted to the penny only leaving £40 per week food budget and nothing left over for clothing, or entertainment.

Still we have a great time, we buy second hand clothes from local Facebook groups, we were given a bread maker and enjoy making homemade pizzas and bread as a family. We spend our weekends playing games, sometimes home made board games, walks, trips to the park, baking, drawing and spending quality time.m with each other.

We also spend a large portion of our weekend completing homework as his mother refuses to do any through the week, but as he spends the week with her and she doesn't take him to school it feels like for every one step forward we take three steps back with his education development.

Two months ago I had to take him to the dentist to have three teeth removed as he was in agony, sadly weekends aren't enough to keep him safe and his mother does not reinforce the basic lessons that he needs to avoid him having these problems. Social care at that time were unwilling to help as they said it didn't meet the threshold for social care involvement.

4 years of frustration with My son in his mothers 'care' have finally culminated in the recent events.

I'm a proud man and work hard for my family but at this time I am sadly dependant on the help of my wonderful friends, family and possibly strangers.

I have to take another half day off work tomorrow to revisit the solicitor to make the relevant statements, again time off work will add to the financial burden perhaps meaning I don't eat as much as I should this month.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this and I'm grateful for any help you can offer.

Much love,

Dad to four beautiful children