That's how he feels, but he doesn't know if he tells her that if he would be denying her the right to her children. All he wants is a formal schedule that they both agree with, but she refuses to deal with the court system at all. He's not even sure if he gets her to sign something stating that she will return them on a specified date whether that will be legal.
He would have money to hire a lawyer if he hadn't had just spent the entire year providing for them without her help.