Legal Question in Family Law in Canada

Hello,

I would like to thank you in advance for your advice.

I am a father of a five year old girl. Her mom and I have been apart for four years. For a while we had our own visitation arrangement set up. It was not fair but did not press the issue because we were both very young and I thought my daughter should not of been away from her mom for extended periods of time.

About two and a half years ago my ex moved to another city with less than a weeks notice. While living a few hours apart we still had communacation and I saw my daughter twice (once in their new city and once took my daughter home for a week) within the first six months. My ex then met a new man and got pregnant again right away. They got married because of this and less than a month after having the new baby they were pregnant again.

When she first started dating this man she started avoiding my calls and then changed her number at the request of her new husband. I then lost all contact with them for a short while before I resorted to the internet. I started messaging her and asking about our daughter. She never responded until she gave birth to her first child. She only contacted me because she was overwhelmed and my daughter had started acting up. She asked me to take our daughter for a little while. I agreed and had everything set up to go get her when her mom canceled saying she has decided that I am no longer allowed to see our daughter and she was taking me to court.

Right after that phone call I contacted legal aid and set up a meeting with lawyer in her city (she has lived there for a year so it was my only option) Long story short I had this lawyer for about six months. He didn't do much in this time and when he did things the information written on court papers was wrong (even after detailed e-mails giving the right information) at the end of the six months he informed me that he thought he was unqualified and gave me another lawyers name but then legal aid denied me. (That took another five months)

In about October of 2010 my ex's husband contacted me via the phone. He told me he would allow me to see my daughter for her birthday for a few hours. He continued to put my daughter on the phone at 11:30pm on a school night. She was beyond excited to talk to me and kept asking if I was her "real daddy". She was then told that I would be seeing her in a few days. Like always however I was again told a few days later that they changed their minds.

Through out this I have maintained a relationship with a mutual friend who informed me that my daughter had been telling people that her mom's husband was touching her "in bad places". I call the police force in their city because I had no address or phone number. They got me in contact with Children's AId and I lodged a complaint. They investagated but I couldn't get any information. The mutual friend has told me that my daughter is extremely unhappy and has still been confiding in her that her mom's husband (who she is forced to call dad or face punnishment) makes her lay in bed with him. She has also told me that CAS has set up psychologist appointments for her. CAS also has weekly appointment at their appartment.

Sorry for the background information but my questions are how do I go about retaining the CAS report and start the court proceedings myself. Although I work full time I cannot afford legal councel. My ex and her husband are on social assistance so they will be provided legal aid.

What are my chances of taking sole custody of my daughter. I believe she is in danger. She is acting out, stealing, and generally a different child. I haven't seen her in a while but she still remembers who I am. I have a common-law girlfriend who I have been with for three years. We have a stable house and can support my daughter in all areas of life. I need to protect my daughter and she needs to regain a relationship with her father.

Please don't think I'm trying to take her away from her mother. That is not the case. I will support visits and even help with transportation, but she couldn't handle my daughter when she had one newborn what's going to happen when she has a new born a not even one year old and my daughter.

Thank you so much for your time.

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