Will father that has cancelled half of his visitations for the past 2 years get standard visitation with a 3.5 year old child?

I wish I had a little more substantive information, but I will answer your queston based on the general information you have given. The Texas Family Code actually encourages visitation between the father and the child. A Standard Possession Order (SPO) is presumed to be the minimum amount of time that is in the child's best interest to spend with a loving and protective non-custodial parent. If the child's father has a "reasonable" explanation for his limited involvement with the child over the last couple of years, and there are no factors that would restrict his time with the child in the future (i.e. positive drug testing, alcohol issues,anger problems), then the SPO is a likelihood. On the other hand, if the Court determines that there should be a graduated period of time to reintroduce the child to his/her father, then the Court may enter a "stair-step" order to work up to such SPO. If you don't believe that a graduated period of access or SPO is in your child's best interest, then I highly recommend that you retain an attorney for this action. Wendy Wood www.wendywoodlaw.com [email protected] 979.779.9663

Standard possession is the standard in Texas. As the attorney above advised, Texas strongly encourages relationships between parents and children. In your case though, you can petition the Court to order a step up schedule from a few hours of supervised visits leading up to standard possession. However, you do need to consult a family attorney with more substantive information so that they can provide you with specific advice. If this guy truly isn't interested, then perhaps it's time to petition the Court to terminate his rights.