Not to burst anyone's bubble here, but I was recently in a court room, waiting my turn to be heard, when a man and woman were called to be heard on their visitation issue. The mother had brought the father to court to set up a new visitation schedule as he hadn't shown up for many and had no good excuses as to why. The judge then made an order to this effect, (the father was given visitation every other weekend), if the father missed 3 visitations in a row (NOT INCLUDING ILLNESS), his rights to visitation would be revoked. The judge told him that is was damaging to a child to sit and wait for a parent that would not show up. I don't know if this ruling was out of the ordinary, but I agreed with the judge. Please note; the mother had documentation of every visit the father had missed, including phone calls and letters she had sent him letting him know that his child wanted to see him. The father's excuse that he had to work did not go over well with the judge. He was told that if he wanted to be in his child's life than he better prove it to the courts and the child by showing up.