Child Custody

I have been served custody papers by my ex for my 4 and 7 year old. He wants joint custody, parenting time, paternity and child support.

It is believed that he sexually abused my daughter at the age of 2. And I have proof that he wanted my son to die. I do not have proof of the alleged sexual abuse, however I did bring her to a CPS interview at the age of 3 because of the story she was telling. " I squeezed daddy's privates and then he peed, and it was so funny ". After the interview they told me to keep doing what I'm doing and to teach her the proper terms for privates. I was pregnant with her little brother at the time and I am beating myself up for not recording her because she repeated that story so many times. She since then has not brought it up and I believe that she has forgotten about it. And I fear that it could happen to her again now.

We have had no contact with him in over four and a half years and he has not met my son. We have had a restraining order in the past, and a pending restraining order for my daughter right now. I have many reasons not to trust him with them alone. I have been very afraid of this man, and I think that he wants to hurt me and my children. I don't have enough money for a lawyer because I have been supporting three young children.

This man is abusive, mentally unstable and high conflict. He has a criminal record and was in and out of my daughter's life because of drugs and alcohol. He got out of prison two years ago and has been stacking up his money because he has no real bills.

I have till the 21st of April to submit my response. I want full custody, and he can have supervised visits requiring drug testing and a breathalyzer. But I don't know where to start without a lawyer to walk me through this process and I have reached out to probono lawyers.

Location: Minneapolis, MN