Please Help

[Worried Mother]

I am a single mother in Oregon. My sons father promised me he would be around, but my son just turned 1 year old and his father has only visited with him 5 times and only a few hours for those 5 days. He is not paying child support and every time I ask for child support or for him to come see our son I either get attitude from him or his girlfriend. they are both mentally abusive and they even threatened to take him from me. I filed custody papers and asked for him to have supervised visitaion for a small period of time since our son doesn't know who he is. He is fighting the supervised visitation and I'm afraid that letting him take our son might put way too much stress on our son and me!

So I have a few questions: Does he have any rights? Is that child abandonment? What should I do about the whole situation?

Originally Posted by Worried Mother

I am a single mother in Oregon. My sons father promised me he would be around, but my son just turned 1 year old and his father has only visited with him 5 times and only a few hours for those 5 days. He is not paying child support and every time I ask for child support or for him to come see our son I either get attitude from him or his girlfriend. they are both mentally abusive and they even threatened to take him from me. I filed custody papers and asked for him to have supervised visitaion for a small period of time since our son doesn't know who he is. He is fighting the supervised visitation and I'm afraid that letting him take our son might put way too much stress on our son and me!

So I have a few questions: Does he have any rights? Is that child abandonment? What should I do about the whole situation?

First of all, yes, he is the childs father, and as long as that can proven then he has rights. However, he also has an obligation to pay child support as long as papers have been filed and signed by a judge. Keep as much documentation as you can on any conversations you have with him-for proof!!
Hope this helps, good luck!