Ilive in tn also.have been thru all this craptoo. My divorce papers state each party is to live no more that 75 miles from here. We would have to go to court to arrange for other options. Also, honestly if you don't have any kind of visitation orders, etc, I don't see what the problem is. My kids would not go anywhere with him. If he wanted to stop by and visit, fine. If he really wanted to establish relationship, he would go to court and get proper orders, etc. Also, step-parents don't have any rights, and if all that dv is going on, if you have proof, a judge most likely would not allow children so young to go with them. In my experience, the ncp, usually only tries to throw his weight around with the visitation crap. My son is 13yrs and we have been divorced since he was 40r 5, we were married 6 yrs, he only does what he has too, usually when he and his wife are doing ok, they want them all to be a family, when they are on the blitz,he could careless about our son. He has been working in iraq since jan04, came home for good thanksgiving, he has seen my son twice, only called twice, we live maybe 10 miles apart. Before he left, he basically demanded our son visit e-o-w no matter what, and tried to force me to make my son go visit while he was out of country, I said Hell No, and few other choice words. Also, the best thing you can ever do is get everything done thru the courts, visitation, child support, whatever, don't handle it on your own. My husband is dealing with some crap from his daughters' mom. but i have never denied my ex to see our son, period.