The day my son was born, I held him against my chest, looked into his tiny eyes and made him a promise I still whisper every single night:

“I will protect you forever, and I will raise you surrounded by nothing but love and goodness.”

For the first years of his life, that promise was easy to keep. Watching him grow, hearing his laugh fill the house, carrying him to sleep on my shoulder four nights a week and those moments made me feel like the luckiest man alive. He was my little mate, my whole world, the key that unlocked every bit of happiness I had left.

I’m still trying with everything I have to keep that promise.

But the family court system is breaking my hands while I try to hold on to him.

Until a few months ago I had him six days every fortnight. I gave him 100 % of my time, my love, my protection — every meal, every bath, every bedtime story, every hug when he fell over. He fell asleep on my chest listening to my heartbeat four times a week after days filled with nothing but joy.

Then, without a single piece of evidence that I had ever harmed or endangered him, the court cut me down to six supervised hours a week — at $140 a visit. On Disability Support Pension, I can rarely afford even that.

My three-year-old has gone from drifting off in my arms almost every second night to seeing his dad only a handful of times in the last three months, whenever I can scrape together a supervisor.

At the end of every visit he looks up at me with total confusion when the supervisor says, “Time to say goodbye.” I have to walk away while he reaches for me. I cry the whole drive home, every single time.

Experts are clear: suddenly ripping a toddler away from a safe, loving parent causes separation anxiety, behavioural regression and long-term attachment wounds. Some psychologists now classify it as emotional child abuse.

Yet the Independent Children’s Lawyer, someone who studied child psychology, has made this request after false accusations were made by the other party.

I believe my little boy is being deliberately alienated from me.

Modern research now recognises parental alienation as a form of family violence and emotional abuse against the child.

Every week he spends without his dad is causing real, measurable harm that he may never fully recover from.

Four years ago a motorbike accident crushed my body and ended my bricklaying career.

The night of 7 November 2022 — when his intoxicated mother smashed up our home with an axe while I hid in the bush holding my terrified son still wakes me in sweats.

The six weeks she abducted him when he was only nine months old, driving off with him unrestrained while I had no idea if he was safe, broke something inside me that has never healed.

I battle severe depression now. Some days I can’t even get out of bed.

Legal Aid refused to help me, and I still don’t know why.

I have already spent $28,000 I didn’t have, sold my only car, and borrowed from everyone who would listen.

Trial is not until 2026.

My barrister says we desperately need $40,000 for the independent expert reports that will finally show the court three undeniable truths:

The serious developmental and emotional harm my son is suffering right now

The ongoing risks on his mother’s side

That I have always been and still am the safe, stable, loving and protective parent he needs.

Every single dollar you give will go straight into my lawyer’s trust account, and I will publicly post every receipt.

If you have ever watched a good father destroyed by this system, or you simply believe no child should be torn from a parent who has done nothing but his job as a protective father, please help me keep the promise I made the day he was born.

Even $10, or one share of this story, keeps his dad in the fight — and keeps hope alive in his little heart.

Thank you from the bottom of mine,

A dad who will never, ever give up on his son.