OK- I'm brand new to all this so please hear me out- I am dating a wonderful man, who recently was discharged from the Navy in San Deigo, and has moved back home to Florida to get his feet under him and build a life. He separated from his wife before he left. None of this is an issue- what is the issue, is his son, who while my BF was on deployment, was removed from the home by DCF and placed in foster care, where he remains today. BM is homeless now, living on the kindness of her friends, and showing no inkling of wanting to put herself back together, get a job, or do anything other than ask my BF for more money. My BF wants to get full custody of his son, who is 2. He is VERY concerned however, that the court system will say that he "left the scene" so to speak, and that BM stayed there no matter how bad things got, so they will give custody to her. I tend to disagree, wholeheartedly! But since I'm new to all this, perhaps I'm simply being naive- I'd like to hear from folks who have been through similar issues, and get some advice on how we should be progressing. He wants full custody, and I'm completely prepared to have SS2 in my life as well, and want to help him any way I can. I just don't know where to begin. They don't have a court date until November, so we have 6 months approximately to figure out what needs to be done and have all our collective ducks in a row. BF is starting school soon to get his civilian certifications, and will find a job as soon as he's finished with his classes. So, in 6 months, the only negative thing the courts can find with him will be the distance away from his son. What else do we need to be doing? His public defender is understandably swamped with cases- so if we can do any of the legwork ourselves to make things easier, and more beneficial for us, we want to! I'd love to hear from anyone out there who can help point us in the right direction, and maybe give us both some assurance that this can work! Thanks, and look forward to hearing from you.