Hi everyone,

My Thai boyfriend and I have been raising his son for the past year and a half (since he was 1 years old). My boyfriend's ex, the birth mother, gave the newborn to relatives to take care of as soon as she had him. Those family members raised him for the first year, but when my boyfriend and I got settled we had him come live with us.

The birth mother has had no contact but her mother and father come by time to time to visit their grandson. We have been trying to ask for their help in obtaining some kind of documentation that will recognize my boyfriend as the father. When he was born, the mother listed the father as "unknown", so though he's never really known any other parents, my boyfriend and I have no legal rights or any kind of documents for our little boy.

The grandparents have said they'd help but always fall through. The birth mother is unreachable and doesn't want to be contacted apparently (and has never made any effort to see her child). I'm at the end of my rope now. School will start for him next year and we don't even have any identity papers to register him. Also we want to be able to travel with him at the end of the year but there is now way to get a passport of course.

I'm reaching out to hopefully find some advice and suggestions for a lawyer who can help my boyfriend gain legal custody of our little boy. It doesn't have to be an international lawyer, as this is a Thai matter, but I am just trying to find a decent, reasonably priced advocate for us in this process. Apparently if done through the courts the DNA testing is very inexpensive. I don't know -- I'm totally at a loss but I'm trying to get some answers.

My boyfriend has been trying to consult with an uncle in his family who is a lawyer but this seems way out of his depth or experience. My boyfriend also has no idea where to turn for help so I thought of posting on Thai visa as I've had so much help in the past from users of this site.

Any suggestions are welcome! We feel so powerless to protect our young son and we both love him with all our heart.

Hi everyone,

My Thai boyfriend and I have been raising his son for the past year and a half (since he was 1 years old). My boyfriend's ex, the birth mother, gave the newborn to relatives to take care of as soon as she had him. Those family members raised him for the first year, but when my boyfriend and I got settled we had him come live with us.

The birth mother has had no contact but her mother and father come by time to time to visit their grandson. We have been trying to ask for their help in obtaining some kind of documentation that will recognize my boyfriend as the father. When he was born, the mother listed the father as "unknown", so though he's never really known any other parents, my boyfriend and I have no legal rights or any kind of documents for our little boy.

The grandparents have said they'd help but always fall through. The birth mother is unreachable and doesn't want to be contacted apparently (and has never made any effort to see her child). I'm at the end of my rope now. School will start for him next year and we don't even have any identity papers to register him. Also we want to be able to travel with him at the end of the year but there is now way to get a passport of course.

I'm reaching out to hopefully find some advice and suggestions for a lawyer who can help my boyfriend gain legal custody of our little boy. It doesn't have to be an international lawyer, as this is a Thai matter, but I am just trying to find a decent, reasonably priced advocate for us in this process. Apparently if done through the courts the DNA testing is very inexpensive. I don't know -- I'm totally at a loss but I'm trying to get some answers.

My boyfriend has been trying to consult with an uncle in his family who is a lawyer but this seems way out of his depth or experience. My boyfriend also has no idea where to turn for help so I thought of posting on Thai visa as I've had so much help in the past from users of this site.

Any suggestions are welcome! We feel so powerless to protect our young son and we both love him with all our heart.

Call Sebastion at E-sarn lawyers in Korrat

Regarding DNA, go on line, you can do the test by post uk/USA, very cheap and possibly quicker.

Thank you Nontabury.

I will give a call this morning.