Terminating parental rights!

My ex-husband and I have been divorced since 1995. I have custody of our daughter who is now 12 1/2 years old. He goes out on the weekends that he has her and stays out til real late and often brings home strange women. My daughter is left home alone while he does this. He call me and her both very bad names in front of her. He didn't even come and see her or call her when she had her tonsils taken out. She hasn't seen him Christmas and she is begging me to take him to court so that she never has to see him again and she wants to change her last name to mine. What rights do we have and is there anything we can do?

Thanks,

Susie

You need to have a petition to have future visits limited and supervised. Have your daughter keep a journal listing her problems with the visits that she can refer to. I would also recommend getting her into counseling (and verify that the counselor will testify on her behalf if necessary) to sort things out. It must be very stressful for her to have to deal with this man.

hm