Ricaardoe DI DONE, autobiography, collection « Familly and Society », 314 pages

This is the story of Ricaardoe Di Done and his extraordinary struggle to remain an active, loving father to his young son after his relationship with the child’s mother disintegrates and she sets about to use the legal system to systematically exclude him from their son’s life.

Please Don’t Let Me Go Papa ! is a compelling story of a child whose fate was caught within the labyrinth of a custody and access dispute of 16 years.  Told from the perspective of the biological father, the book chronicles what happened to Ricaardoe Branden Di Done Jr. when his parents were neither able to negotiate the problems in their relationship nor employ the legal system of the day to ensure that the best interest of their child, in terms of custody and access, would be achieved.

Reviewed and applauded by other social workers, police officers, and lawyers, Please Don’t Let Me Go Papa ! is also the story of how persistence brought about change to the legal system.  The author relates how, while struggling to secure regular access to his son and to be involved in decisions that concerned his child, he founded the Organization for the Protection of Children’s Rights (OPCR) in 1983 as a non-profit organization to protect and defend the rights of children.  Shaped by the intervening years, the OPCR currently provides assistance to children and families experiencing difficulty in resolving family conflicts and is an advocate to help families avoid, reconcile, and resolve the trauma of a break-up.  Learning from the mistakes of his own experience, Ricaardoe Di Done concludes his book by supporting participation in a conciliation counseling program for parents considering separation and divorce.