For any of you fathers that are still fighting to see your kids

TL;DR at the bottom.

After my ex and I split, she took the kids and skipped town a year ago, I found myself in this community looking for support and guidance. I had lost everything including my kids, my family and my sanity. I drank a lot, I couldn’t sleep, I stopped eating, and all I did was work. I was almost a thousand miles from home and I didn’t have family or many friends left.

Eventually I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and start enjoying what I had left. Take the boat out on the lake with the dog, go riding motorcycles with a small club I knew, start traveling to new places. I was writing off women and reinventing myself. It was a long year, but incredibly therapeutic. All the while, I thought nonstop about my kids, hoping I could see them again. Every conversation either started with, contained, or ended with the subject of my kids to the point I’m pretty sure it was annoying to those I talked to.

Everything changed about a month ago. I received an anonymous phone call. I was used to these, as my ex had been having her friends harass me constantly. However, this call was different. The caller said they knew my ex, and had some doubts about her story. I found out my ex had been moving often to keep me from finding her or the kids, had been dating a registered pedophile, neglecting the kids and my children though I was dead. Meanwhile, my ex had been spinning a story that I was an abusive deadbeat that cared nothing about my family. The kids weren’t getting bathed or fed, weren’t getting hugs and kisses goodnight, she didn’t see them on Easter or Mother’s Day. It was a 4 year old taking care of an 18 month old. I was enraged but excited. I finally knew where they were.

Over the next couple weeks, I met with the caller, and formulated a plan. We contacted CPS and other agencies for the multiple concerns we had. I received endless screenshots of text messages and audio files, proving anything from neglect to threats of violence against me and stalking. Two days after my call to CPS, I was told to come get my kids. As soon as I got off work, I drove 2 hours to their house, and while my ex was at work, I picked them up.

To anyone else in shoes like mine, keep your heads up. Keep fighting. There’s always a chance.

TLDR ex ran off with kids and neglected them for a year. After a call to cps, I was finally able to get them back.