If a dad walks out on his kids, can he come back and demand weeks at a time with our children?

Laws vary somewhat by state, and you did not mention what state you live in. BUT let me paint you a picture of my experience. After reading it... you may not be able to go to sleep tonight.

Condensed version;

I was married for nearly ten (10) years before I had my daughter. Within three (3) months of her birth my husband got into drugs (cocaine to be exact). In all the years that we were together; we NEVER did drugs, and the fact that he was using cocaine really, really shocked and upset me... especially since we'd had a baby. Soon after - he started cheating on me, and I quickly learned that it was more than just a sexual encounter; he actually had a 'girlfriend'. Their relationship became common knowledge. And then my husband stopped coming home every night, and started spending nights at her house. By that time my daughter wasn't more than 4-5 months old. Not only was he doing drugs... he had also started drinking very heavily. I could never trust my husband in regard to the safety and well being of our daughter, so I always had to arrange things to where he never had to actually care for her or drive her anywhere. However, he became increasingly nasty until he finally became violent and started slapping me around. I blamed it all on the drugs and alcohol, and I tried for over two years to get him into treatment... I finally realized that I had to get my daughter and I OUT, and so I did.

So with all that said - check this out. According to the law in Georgia; in spite of the fact that EVERYONE knew that my daughters father was a very heavy cocaine addict AND drank a case of beer a day, EVERYDAY; and there were numerous people within his own family that were willing to testify that she DID NOT EVER need to be in her fathers care WITHOUT SUPERVISION... the law says that he is still her father, and he has PARENTAL RIGHTS. The fact that he pretty much walked out on us, and there were police reports as well as hospital records from where he physically assaulted me, AND a police report on my husband attempting to pick up my daughter from Day Care while drugged and intoxicated... but he STILL GETS VISITATION to see HIS CHILD!!!!! What's more; you can be held in contempt of court for failure to comply with court order to allow visitation IF YOU REFUSE. SUCKS!, huh? So, the answer is YES, HE WILL GET VISITATION.

Thought you all would like to know that my "ex-husband' was actually busted for a kilo (that's 2.2 POUNDS!!) of 'uncut' cocaine three (3) years after out divorce. In all he was sentenced to 30 YEARS in prison, and fined 1.5 million dollars. He finally went into prison when our daughter was just shy of her 8th birthday, and was finally paroled when she turned 16 years old. AND he came out of prison... with another woman on his arm!

I raised my daughter totally on my own (I have NO family), and without child support (men in prison don't pay child support.). She's 29 years old (biologist) and engaged to get married.

No he can't , if he didn't come around, didn't let you know where he was, then he is the one that gave up his time with the kids. Do not let him take them. I hope your lawyer was smart enough to go to court and ask for temporary custody while this is getting taken care of. His idea is if he has the kids for this amount of time you gave them up. He can demand all he wants, but the courts will tell him what his rights are.

If it has been a year of no contact or support, it is considered abandonment and you could take his rights completely away. It depends on how long its been since he has walked out, but you could ask for supervised visitation. He is not going to get weeks at a time. The most he will get is every other weekend.

He has the right to see his kids, But if there is no court order there is nothing to enforce. So, he can't just come and demand anything. The police will tell him to go to court and can not make you let him see them.

Depends on how long he has been gone.If he leaves and does not let you know he is leaving and stays gone for yrs, then probably not.HOWEVER if it has just been a few weeks he CAN file for child custpody if you haven't or he can file for visitation.If he is a decent dad at all, do not punish the kids by getting back at him.

He shouldn't 'demand' but on the other hand, you should show a willingness for him to see HIS kids, without allowing yourself to be treated like dirt.

Tell him you agree he should see his kids as much as possible, and that you are willing to work things out, but that you need to be told ahead of time when he wants to see them, as you have plans etc and cannot run on a last minute request or demand whenever he feels like it. Try be positive.

Remember those kids are just as much HIS as they are yours.

you would need to file for full legal custody of the children..and have some kind of visitation plan in affect for him..so he doesn't keep walking in and out of their lives.