My daughter’s father has been absent all her life and now only wants to hang out with her every 4 months.

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I am seeking advice because my daughter’s biological father has been an active parent for the majority of the past 3 years, however, my daughter is now 4 years old and her father has become increasingly inconsistent in his involvement in her life.

To provide some context, we broke up 3 years ago. He has been neglectful and has slowly fallen off as a father. I even gave him money to get treatment for his depression, but despite this, he has shown no improvement.

For 2 months, I sent him many updates about our daughter and repeatedly asked him to at least call so they could speak on the phone, but he never asked about her or made any effort to talk to her. He refused to pick her up or even visit her during those 2 months.

Then, out of nowhere, he decided to pick her up for 2 days, but after promising to take her to the zoo the next time, he never picked her up again, nor did he speak to her again.

It has now been 4 months since he has contacted us, and he has made no effort to reach out, ask about our daughter, or even reply to any messages.

It is especially difficult because he has no job, no car, and lives with his mother, yet spends his days playing video games on Xbox. This has had a significant emotional impact on my daughter, who was used to seeing him regularly and now experiences long periods of silence from him.

I have tried to make him an active father again by staying in touch with our daughter and sending him updates about her, but his broken promises have hurt her multiple times. He has even refused to spend holidays with her.

I am at a loss for what to do. Should I fight for full custody and put an end to his empty promises, or should I continue to hope that he will become more involved in our daughter’s life? My ultimate goal is to ensure my daughter’s happiness and well-being.