is the parent at the mercy of the other parent totally? If for example the mother will not take the phone calls ( and hard to blame her) or take the children to visit, is the father SOL? One of my penpals gives gifts to his kids, and never even gets a thank you for them.. Evidently his ex is so bitter that she will not even teach her children to do the right thing by their father, and acknowledge a gift. They have been in and out of foster care, also, and he is helpless to do anything.

That is a really interesting question..I never thought about that......I am gonna do some checking around and see if I can come up with anything....but I am sure someone on here knows something!