The Child Advocate and Decision

My work colleague is in a custody battle. And before I go on and on, I have met the mother and I'm not being biased towards either one.

The mother took off to Europe for two years and never even told a soul she was leaving. Just left. Came back for a few months and got daughters hopes up with promises and then LEFT AGAIN WITHOUT ANY WARNING!
The daughter was broken hearted.
Mother is back and fighting for custody! She has told the father (while the little girl was RIGHT THERE) that if she didn't win she would leave again or on another occasion that she would kill herself.
Naturally the daughter is afraid of losing her mother again. So she's told the child advocate (I forget the title of this person) that she wants to stay with mom.
The mother has no job lives off welfare and food stamps and isn't even trying to find a job! Been this way for years!
The father supports the daughter fully.
He's devastated that the child advocate person is supporting the daughters decision when the daughter is only choosing mom because she's scared of the consequences if she doesn't.
What can he do? They r saying he will only get her 4 days a month and that is breaking his heart!