scared to death

Ok, everyone, I'm terrified. I called a Family law attourney today.
Long story, be prepared.

When I was 18, young and dumb, I got married, to a man 10 years my senior. I knew very little about the man that I married. He turned out to be a registered sex offender, a drug addict and an abuser. I was married to him for a year and a half, and had a son with him. My son is now almost 4.
Since the divorce, my ex has been in and out of jail, for things as small as driving without insurance to an aggravated assault charge that earned him 5 years in prison.

When I was pregnant with my son, my ex would get drunk and beat on me, not caring that I was pregnant. He did things that I would rather not mention here, but that were cruel and horrible.
I almost miscarried at 7 months pregnant because of it. After my son was born, we were evicted from our home and had to go live with my grandparents. While living there, he abused me and, on several occasions, could very well have killed my son. He shook him, hit him, and almost smothered him from rolling over on him in his sleep. On one occasion, the day he was kicked out of my grandparent's house and I called a lawyer, he threw my then 3 month old son at my grandmother and knocked her down.

After the divorce was started, he called harassing me several times, and I called the police on him. I now have a permanent restraining order on him, and is currently serving time in prison. I found out today that he has gotten some other poor, stupid kid pregnant, and she is trying to get paternity tests and child support out of him. Good luck girl.

I am currently owed almost $10,000 in back child support, and he hasn't seen my son since February of 2005.

My current husband and I were talking a few months ago, and the conversation was about what would happen to my son if I died before he was 18. Needless to say, the thought scared the hell out of me. Then my husband said that he would like to adopt my son. The only way to do that though, is to have my ex either sign away his rights to my son, or to have them forcibly taken away.

So today, I called a family lawyer, and have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow. When I talked to him on the phone, he said that it sounds like we have a very solid case and that he wants to give us a free consultation to get all the information he needs. I'm terrified that I may have to face that monster again.