I gave my mother temporary custody of my son when he was a baby. she let me visit sporadically but things got weird after she taught him to call her "mom". in 2010 she told me my son "didn't want" to visit me and she "didn't think it was right to make him" when i threatened to go to court, she told me "do what you gotta do" i began my battle representing myself, until the point that my mother's attorney requested appointment of her friend and colleague as guardian ad litem. i am grateful to have acquired my own attorney when she was first starting out, and she gave me the option of a monthly payment plan. but after four years, the grand total just keeps growing. what was a clear cut and dry case of revoking temporary custody from a family member (who agreed i am a fit parent) has turned into four years of what amounts to 45 scheduled hearings (19 with the magistrate and 26 with the judge) of which 18 of those were cancelled or continued in an effort to let my son get old enough to resist visitation more actively. 27 of those hearings were actually held, but as i sit here without my son i cannot help but wonder what any of the hearings hae accomplished, exactly.  Not counting attorney fees, i have paid almost $8000 in therapy. costs (at one point I was paying $185 per week to see my son for two hours at the therapist's office), while my mother has contributed less than $500 and currently owes me $2500 in court ordered reimbursements from the first therapist. once he filed his report (that my son should end up with me and that people not following court orders should be held accountable for their actions)she moved to have him replaced with a new therapist.