Hi! I have joint physical and legal custody of my 3 year old daughter with my ex-husband. My ex is bipolar, and refuses any medical treatment. He has left our daughter alone in public places (swimming pool, chuck e cheese, rec center, alone in the car, etc) to run errands, tells her that mommy doesn't love her - and that step-mom is her new mommy, has extreme mood swings, is physically abusive to his current wife, etc.

I am very fearful of what may happen to our daughter! Do I try and prove he is unstable to the court to get sole custody, or do I wait and see what happens? My lawyer keeps telling me to keep a journal and when it looks like we have enough to prove anything we will go to court, but I am really starting to fear something will happen between now and then. I have phone calls recorded that show the mood swings, I have phone calls recorded of him admitting he is dropping her off at the rec center to go grocery shopping, and journals galore. Child services has been called on him 3 times by her daycare and pediatrician --- once for suspicion of physically abusing her and twice for neglecting her (all resulted in no investigation).

What else do I need? Should I get a lawyer who will take me more seriously? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Sorry this is so long!

You can consult as many lawyer as you like. If the majority seem to have valid reason to believe your current lawyer is not working as hard for you as he/she can then I would switch. That is what I would do. But you should always go by the advice of your lawyer, they know the law the best. The trick is having a good lawyer.

Im am going through the same thing right now. My x is a meth addict and even addmitted it to the judge. He still gets unsupervised visitation. MY lawyer seem as though he done nothing in our last court hearing, I already gave him 750 dollars so I can't change lawyers now. BUt I know what you can do. I recently hired a private investagater who charges me 50 dollars a month. Now is time to get ugly.

What is the detective for ? Im not sure what rates are but for $50 a month it sounds like your not going to get much. Did they say what exactly they will be doing for that price ?