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looooooooong, but please help!

mommy_2003's picture

This is going to be long...but there is just so much to get out...sorry Sad

I haven't been on here in a while, but I need answers or advice. If you look thru my other posts you will see some history that I have with my sd. I used to resent her so much and dread when she would come over...but after my husband had to go to court to fight a tpo we sat and had a long talk with sd and since then we have been getting along...Something just finally clicked with me that it is not her fault she is the way she is and I realized it was not even her that I had the big problem with...it was my husband who treated her like she could do no wrong. We talked about it and he agreed that he has parented her out of guilt for a long time now and he has really been working on changing it. We have had her every other weekend and we have a good time, when she gets a attitude...one of us will say something to her. That's another thing my husband brought up to me. He said that if she does/says something that I don't like I need to speak up and when she is in our house I have a right to discipline her just like I would do with our own children...so I have been speaking up a lot more. She has been pretty good, but she is a 9 year old girl, so there is some attitude sometimes, but not anything to really punish her for...just telling her to knock it off or something has been working.
Ok, now for the newest situation. BM called my husband a couple days ago and told him that since sd has anxiety attacks during thunderstorms she was going to take her to the doctor to get pills. My husband was completely against it and told her so, but he didn't think the doctor would actually give her anything...she went yesterday and she told my husband that the doctor gave her zolof...I have no idea if I spelled that right...my husband freaked and started researching this pill. It says that it is for OCD...my sd does not have OCD at all...I don't know if bm was lying about the pills or she was actually telling the truth. She told my husband that my sd's doctor was getting fed up with her a couple of months ago, because of them constantly taking her there when there is nothing wrong with her, so I don't know if he would just give a 9 y/o medication without her talking to a shrink first. bm has been wanting pills for sd for a long time though and she will eventually find a quack to give them to her. Next issue...My husband was talking to sd on the phone yesterday and he overheard bm in the background telling sd that when she was done that she had to talk to him...my husband said she completely went nuts on bm, started yelling at her not to tell her what to do, that she doesn't have to listen to her...blah blah blah...my husband snapped on her and asked her who she thinks she is talking to her mother like that and told her to say sorry. This kid started crying hysterically like someone was going to kill her. Finally bm gets on the phone and yells at my husband for making her cry. He was like I yelled at her because of the way she talked to you, and telling her that she should be punished for that, she told him that that is just the way she is so she can't do anything...I'm not kidding. I don't know of any parent that would not say a word with their kid snapping on them like that.
The point I am trying to make is that my sd is getting so messed up in the head from living in that house. She would not ever even think of acting like that with us. She has never had a anxiety attack at our house when it thunders...she gets nervous, because she doesn't like them...but nothing unusual...she will still go to bed and function like a normal kid when it rains. She does get anxiety attacks at bm's house though...my husband has heard them, but bm plays into it and gives her attention for it...it's like she enjoys it or something strange.
I told my husband that it's now or never to file for a change of custody. I am worried that if something is not done that sd is going to end up in a nut house before she reaches puberty. Her mom is a complete nut case and I will bet everything that I have that she would do horrible on a psych evaluation.

Alright here are the reasons that we need full custody
* bm has MS..which isn't a deal breaker, but she is constantly in and out of the hospital and can't do anything with sd like take her to the doctor/school...she delegates it to someone else.
* she never disciplines sd...which I know a lot of parents are like that, but it is to the point where it is abusive.
* She missed 12 days of school last year, and bm got a letter saying that any more absenses without a dr note, they would call the truancy officer...guess who that is? bm's mother.
* The last time they went to court for the tpo. sd talked to the judge and told the judge that bm talks bad about us and makes sd guilty for wanting to come to our house.(judge not happy with bm at all)
* bm got caught in a bunch of lies the last time in court and the judge made a comment that he knows that women who have MS are not all there in their mind, but she needs to get some help for her daughter. (this was not a custody case). He said the protection order was void before it was even served because bm called husband the same day she filed for it
* She is having anxiety attacks at bm's house to the point that bm wants to medicate her.

I think we have a pretty good case, but is it enough? We don't have the money to have a full out custody battle, but we will take out a loan. I would even be willing to sell our house and move into a apartment...whatever it takes. My concern is that bm has also filed for a increase in cs which is so crazy that she is not going to get it, but I don't want the judge to think that we just want custody so he doesn't have to pay cs...everything was pretty calm up until about 4 months ago...but now I think bm is going crazy and she is going to ruin her kid if something is not done now. He has a lawyer right now, but he really sucks. I took him 9 days to return a phone call...it just seems like he wants to just roll over and do whatever to make the case end. We need to get another lawyer...we need a aggessive lawyer that will really fight and do whatever it takes. I know that we will need to do home studies,psych evaluations, get medical and school records....what else do we need? About how much will it cost? Are there any ways to cut down on the costs? Does it help that she already got caught in lies by the judge and the judge thinks she might have mental problems?...it is the same judge for custody. I'm just lost right now and need options.

If you actually read this whole thing...thank you so much and I would appriciate any advice you have...thanks again!

semi's picture

If it was been there, done that I might have some advice but we're on the front end of this battle too. We talked to an attorney who was actually very helpful - his advice was to go to the state website, there we could review most of the paperwork and even download it and fill it out ourselves to save some of his time / our money. I think first off you should look for a different attorney, then maybe call the court and ask them what they think and how you should proceed given the circumstances. Maybe even call the office of the Judge who is familiar with the case - it might be against the rules for him to help you directly but if it is already his opinion there are issues with BM he might help guide you through the system/process.

Good luck... to all of us, but mostly to these poor kids!

northernsiren's picture

I definitely hear where you're coming from, same challenges here. I am very concerned about the medicating of SD for anxiety that may have more to do with her living situation than with a thunder storm. I can't see putting a child on an SSRI for ONE isolated behavior...

Here's a brief statement from About.com:
Should children be prescribed Zoloft on a regular basis? Of course not. We don't know the long term effects of prescribing such powerful medications to children. Zoloft, like the more famous Prozac, is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). The mechanism of action of these medications is not completely known. We do know that they increase levels of serotonin in the brain and body.

I would have her see a therapist ASAP and get her off these meds. I think BM is probably going to come up with MORE instances to give the kid pills, it starts as the thunder storm, then it's when she's hyper, then it's when she doesn't listen, etc. I also don't like the precedent being set for a small child "have a problem, take a pill" BAD BAD BAD! I don't know if it's BM's attempt at BONDING with her or something (I'd imagine someone with MS would be on a variety of meds).

I think your heart is in the right place, we too are looking at taking out a loan to pay for legal costs to get custody of SD14 if it comes down to that. It's the last thing F and I want to do, we'd RATHER buy a home, but it's her life we're talking about, her one shot at doing it right, getting good grades through high school and going on to a good college, a fullfilling career and happiness, and that's what we both want for her more than anything. Best wishes to you and your family, keep me posted!

************************************************************
from my SD, the reason we're going through it all....:
o, btw, my dad and *northernsiren* are the best family a girl(and boy) could ever hope for. Thank you for helpping me through these hard times.

mommy_2003's picture

Thank you so much for the quick replies. I think I am going to look up the papers and download them...then maybe when we go to start finding another lawyer...we will already be a little prepared so he might be able to take the case at such notice. We paid a $2000.00 retainer for the lawyer we have now, but once that money is gone..we need to get another one. He is not getting another cent from us. They had court this morning and my husband and bm didn't have to go because her lawyer was going to ask for a continuance, so just the lawyers were there and the lawyer has not even returned my husband's phone calls to tell him what happened...BS.
The thunderstorms are just a example of what she freaks out about at her mom's house. She does it all the time for the smallest things, but she never does it for my MIL or at our house...it's only at her mom's house. She has been in therapy for her issues, but she doesn't go anymore because she didn't like him and I guess bm would rather just drug her then get her some good help and because she has full custody my husband needs to go thru the court to order her to therapy and to not take the meds, that is why he needs to get a hold of his lawyer, but he won't call back. Her school councelor said that she is a normal kid and her principal told bm to stop blaming the school for sd's behavior...that it is her home life that is the problem.
I think bm in some sick way wants sd to have a problem...for attention or just because she doesn't want to take responsibility for how she has raised her kid? who knows?
Does anybody think we have a shot at winning custody?

now4teens's picture

If you and your DH choose to pursue this custody battle, this is certainly what you are in for.

*Of course, you need to get SD to her primary care physician's ASAP to find out the story on the meds. I cannot imagine why a primary doctor would medicate a 9-yr-old with Zoloft- that's a pretty powerful med with SIGNIFICANT side effects for a child of that age!

*Document absolutely EVERYTHING BM does/says/etc that affects the SD in a negative way. It's time consuming (especially when you're dealing with an unstable BM), but necessary when going to trial. This way, your lawyer can say, "on August 28, 2008, didn't SD and you have a heated discussion about....(details)..." and she'll never remember. But you and DH will have all the facts down to a 't'.

*Get a lawyer who will fight for YOU. If you don't have one who is willing to fight- you might as well flush the money down the toilet. There's plenty of them out there who would be willing to take your case. Don't give them ANY money until they seem EAGER to work for YOU first.

*Keep parenting your SD as if the BM is a complete non-issue. What she does/doesn't do at her house should have no effect on how you and your DH parent her while she is with you.

And keep on your DH to do the right things! You are absolutely right- the problem is not with the child- it's 100% on how DH parents her, so keep on him to do the right things by her.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

"If you have never been hated by a child, you have never been a parent."
-Bette Davis

mommy_2003's picture

well my husband is going to try and call his lawyer again today and see what it would take to change custody and see if he has any kind of chance at all at winning. He kind of made me mad last night because he said that if there is no way he can win, then he does not want to go thru it all for nothing...I was like this is your child and it is your responsibility to fight for her and do what it takes to make sure she is being properly raised...so even if he doesn't win...at least he can look at her in 10 years and say he tried...maybe moms and dads are different, but I could not imagine allowing my kids being raised like that and not doing anything to stop it.
Has anyone actually gone to court to change custody and win? What did it take? Thanks

northernsiren's picture

I said, verbatim, the exact same thing. "at least she will know that no matter what, her dad loved her enough to try". Keep at it!!!!

from my SD, the reason we're going through it all....:
o, btw, my dad and *northernsiren* are the best family a girl(and boy) could ever hope for. Thank you for helpping me through these hard times.