As a responsible and caring father (daddy) to my two wonderful sons, I was awarded 60/40 custody of both in my favor and ordered to pay child support. If 50/50 custody is awarded, then both parents equally share the responsibility in raising their child. No child support is required. I will share my relationship with the family court system and parent alienation. My story starts in 2009. During this time, my oldest was seven and my youngest was three years old. Things at home were not looking great between my ex and I to the point that I got home from work one day and she was gone. She took my kids and would not tell me where she went. This put me under great stress, and I feared that I would not see them again. When she returned a few days later, I did not know what to do other than try my best to make sure things at home were okay so that I wouldn't lose my children again. I overlooked her parenting deficiencies in hopes that I wouldn't come and not it find my children. I even enlisted the help of her mother to stay at our home while I was away at work. We were also being drowned in debt. I was not good tracking my funds or knowing where it was all going. I had a joint account set up with my ex, and funds were always low no matter what. I never spent money on something I didn't need to, but did not check the bank account either. I was faced with an opportunity to travel outside of the US for a year and having my pay raised (military). This would allow me to pay off debt and take care of the family. With my ex's promise that things would be okay, I set off to have a clean slate on debt. I was promised that contact with my children would be constant. I was heartbroken, and looked forward to returning. Once I was transferred overseas things turned into a nightmare. Shortly after arriving, I received an email from my ex stating that she wanted to separate and needed time to herself. Weeks went by without a word of my children. The joint account was always drained of funds and debt did not change much. I constantly sent emails for my children and tried to set up video chats. This remained the case for several months, and finally it was my time to return to the US, or go to another location overseas for three years. Upon speaking to my ex, I was promised that if I chose another location overseas that she would move there and bring my children to be with me. With joy to finally have my children back, I took the offer and signed up to stay out of the US. Again, once I got there I received notice from my ex that she was not coming and would not send my children. The bank account remained drained, I had to constantly request to speak to and see my children. My life was turned upside down and I was constantly under stress. Finally, I ended things with my ex and requested a divorce. I canceled the joint account, but made sure that my children had everything they needed. I sent hundreds of dollars monthly to make sure they were taken care of. We did homework on video chat when I got the chance, and once in a while I got their grades. I was away for four years with relatively little contact with my children. While I was away I was able to visit when allowed to return to the US for two week periods twice a year. On my visits I always noticed that my children were missing clothes and did not appear taken care of. Every time I purchased new clothing and made sure they were okay before I left. It took a couple years to finally divorce my ex given that the process was stretched. I thought things would go smoothly, but my ex had other plans. I was taken advantage of and painted as the 'bad guy'. Constantly accused of damaging her, and rumored around her family of things I supposedly did. I finally had returned to the US and had my own place. I was so excited that when my ex asked for my address in order to drop my children off one day I did not think of any other intentions she might have. She had already promised me 50/50 custody and asked me not to contact the court. Shortly after giving her my address, a stranger shows up at my door to serve me paperwork. My ex filed for full custody. I spent over 7k to complete a divorce and child custody agreement. Through the court process I was able to find out that it was the second time full custody had been filed against me. The first time while I was overseas. I had to fight in order to be in my children's lives. There's more that was done to my relationship with my children, but nothing was taken into account. I was painted as the father who was away and all of a sudden appeared. I was blinded by lies of having my children back in order to keep me away. An attempt to damage my relationship with my children was made. My ex's behavior was damaging to my children's mental and emotional wellbeing. I was forced out of their lives for no apparent reason, and had to fight my way back to them. On account of false allegations and my record as an outstanding father, I was awarded 60/40 custody in my favor. Still, I was ordered to pay child support because my ex was not working and could not financially support the children on her own. I was accused of not financially supporting my children while I was away and ordered to pay 2k in back child support. The thousands I sent while I was away did not have a tag on them which read 'child support' so I could not claim it as such. My story is one which happens more often than we would like to think. I share for everyone to see how important this petition is, and for everyone to understand that not everything is taken into account during court proceedings. Responsible parents are not a paycheck for the other parent. If they cannot financially care for a child it should not be viewed as the best interest for them. Good fathers are humans too. We have rights. Please join me in an effort to have our voices heard! Sign and share this petition to raise awareness.