I did fight for my rights. After I split with my ex wife, her lawyer advised her to steal the children and run away and hide in a women's refuge. The lawyer said that this would make me take her back because I love my daughters so much. This all happened on my youngest daughter's 5th birthday. I remember sitting there all night waiting on the sofa with all her presents for her to come home. Even the police could not get my daughters back for me. They told me she is protected by law and no one can touch them in this refuge. These refuges are for beaten women who need protection from violent men, not for women like my wife who just needed somewhere to hide from the law. The police said she was abusing the system. So I had to go to the courts and fight for my rights to see my daughters.
For months I knew nothing of their safety. I ended up getting a private detective to track them down. We then planned to snatch them back. But that night, the day before my second court hearing I think my ex wife panicked and rang me. She said that if I took her back she would come home. I took her back because I wanted my daughters with me.
My case was used for thousands of other men around the country as a test case in the high courts to give men more rights and more access to their children.