getting custody of my abused children NY

I am a father of two daughters ages 6 and 5 who are residing with my ex wife and her husband I have had numerous problems with my ex wife letting me continue visitation with my daughters she even went as far as when I had no vehicle and knew of it she ran to the court and told them I was deliberately not showing up for my visitations with out cause and had my visitation rights suspended well it took myself a year to straighten out the transportation problem and to get caught up on my support, just when I was going to go back to court to get my visitation rights unsuspended I received a court paper in the mail for a summons on child neglect directed at both my ex wife and her new husband which by the affidavit of the cpse worker was horrible ie: extremely dirty clothing , child, house lack of medical care and so on I went to meet with the cpse worker and from her advice filed for custody of my daughters at the hearing my ex was not present because she went to florida for a week leaving her children with a family friend and not her husband or parents .I found that the court had recieved my custody petition and are going to serve my ex wife when she returns we need to go back to court and at that time they are going to hear my custody hearing also WHAT ARE MY CHANCES OF GETTING CUSTODY?
I am working have a decent residence which if I get custody plan on moving to a larger house and have been in a stable relationship with a person for three years .. also one of the reports had to do with my daughter which has a language and speeach handicap and that she was not attending school due to the fact on the first day of the school year she was sent home due to head lice and never returned as of this date which I am very upset with considering I did not know this till I called the school to check on her progress the thing that bothers me the most is knowing that schools are mandated child abuse reporters why did they not in sept call this case in and waiting till I called and voiced my concerns and then calling cpse myself what can I do to the school itself for letting my child continue to be neglected when they could have voiced some concern months before.

please help
Rick in NY

My fiancee Michael has residential custody of his daughter whom is now 6 yrs old. as a man your chances are most likely more difficult. it takes money from what he has told me and also they more gear for women. i am not a lawer so i am merely telling you what i have seen etc..

you never know...be consistent, keep a journal, bring all evidence and all thing's you have that will build your case. all of this will make your life awhole lot easier in that court room. like i said i am not a lawyer but i am only trying to tell you that there is hope!!! just be consistent!!! if you really feel you are right and she your ex-wife is neglectful then go for it....you then have shown you cared and tried. custody is not called a battle for no reason. there of course, is a reason for the term "battle" so be prepared. i saw what michael went through and all thing's in life are hard...custody is surely one of them.

we live in NJ, I personally am from NY but not sure on the laws there. I wish you luck. one thing to keep in mind is that you should not ever do anythingto those chidren...what i mean is never make them turn against their other parent. it will damage them. i know, i have seen it!!! people put themselves in front of their children. that is not right.

only trying to help you.

Best of Luck