Requesting sole rights for my children

Questioner

I am a single mother with 2 children, now divorced. I have had a difficult relationship with my ex, and some intense things happened that also affected my children a lot. they are being treated for this by ggz. My ex now lives in France and has little to no contact with the children. The oldest is 13 years old and also no longer wants contact with his father. The youngest also no longer wants to call. This is the only thing he has done in the past 2.5 years, occasionally calling the youngest. That also stopped in June after he was lying and eventually attacked me on the phone, my youngest hung up and since then she no longer wants contact. I have asked her several times a week if she wants to call but her answer remains no. Our youngest has had surgery on her eye despite this. After several emails asking if he could give permission, he signed the papers after 3 months. He says himself that he does not receive the email, but if he needs something from me he will email me via that email..... I emailed him the date she would be operated on, he didn't respond, nor did he respond to the email I sent him that everything went well and she was back home. All the official documents that need to be signed are a struggle, some things he doesn't sign at all, like therapy for our children. The way of contact and the things he has done in the past (drugs) are very damaging to the children. The care providers (GGZ and CJG) are behind me. My ex threatened the counselor at CJG my oldest had shared her story and that was put in a report that he had to sign then he emailed the counselor that that story (drugs) had to be removed otherwise he would take her to court. She did not respond to this and so he did not sign for this again. As a result, the CJG and GGZ authorities have put it on paper that the father exhibits harmful behavior towards the children. I find it frustrating to see my children suffer like this, while I can do nothing about their father's behavior. It's not that I want to cut their father out of their lives completely (which he's already doing himself, not seeking any contact at all for months). But it would be nice if I could make decisions about the children alone and not have to wait for his permission every time. There are of course countless examples that show that he does not take his responsibilities as a father I think the most important thing is that he makes no effort from France to build a bond with his children. He has to do this in the Netherlands according to the judge and child protection services. It is not right that he takes them to France because the youngest has so much trauma that she wants to come to me again after a day and that is not possible just like that from France (a 9-hour drive). The other side is that he cannot or does not want to take his responsibilities from France. Such as signing important papers on time. operation of his youngest only signed after months, the grant decisions for both children that they could go to a care farm. Therapy for both children. Different school for the eldest because of autism she could not keep up with regular education. I would also like to request sole custody so that I can take on the responsibilities of the children, so that I know for sure that everything is well arranged for the children. The things that are going wrong now cause a lot of stress in the family and the children (and myself) do not deserve this. Are these valid reasons for initiating the procedure for sole custody? How exactly does this work? And is there a lawyer who can help me and wants to take on this fight with me? It is pro bono.

Lawyer

With what you describe, a procedure can indeed be started at the court in which we then request that you be charged with sole custody of the children. If you wish, I can assist you in this, which can be done on the basis of subsidized legal aid, also called the addition.