What does abandonment consist of?
My ex-boyfriend, son, and I reside in Florida. My son is seven months old, and my ex has not visited him (three miles away) for five months. He abuses drugs and alcohol, and is willingly unemployed (he says he cannot find work because he is a felon). The biggest attempt he has made for my son is to send me text messages saying he misses us. I freely allow his mother and grandparents to maintain contact with my son. I fear that one day he will try to get visitation (to spite me). I do not want such a negative influence in my son's life and I am worried that he would be fatally irresonsible in caring for him should he get visitation (frequent drunk driving, drug use, etc.) I encouraged their relationship at first, but then concluded that it would be detrimental to my child for such a relationship to exist. However, I have never prevented him from seeing my son and he willingly abstains from doing so. I want to know if there is any legal action I can take to prevent him from having the ability to make parental decisions regarding my son while he continues to engage in such devious behavior. What is abandonment exactly? I have read the statutes but they are very vague. If my son brought home a friend who engages in the same activities as his father, I would not condone the relationship, so I'm confused as to why the courts would promote the very same relationship just because he wanted to have sex one night and the only contribution to my child that he has made is a single microscopic organism. Please help--I'd like to raise a decent human being, not a replica of the man who helped to create him!:confused: