D is meeting with a lawyer today. He is going to see if he has any legal recourse when it comes to his daughter’s life. Let’s summarize:
1. Mom is now living with a new man (the last man she was living with kicked her out and the police were called at some point).
2. The house they are living in is in foreclosure. That means another move in the next few months for stepdaughter (that would be her 4th move since April 2014, so about once every 6 months)
3. Mom has changed stepdaughter’s school again without discussing it with D. (This will be stepdaughter’s 5th school. She’s going into 5th grade)
4. Every time mom changes schools, she makes it difficult for D. In the past she had left him completely off the registration forms, she takes me off the pick up list. We have to go to the school and meet with the principal with every new school to ensure they have a copy of the parenting plan.
5. Stepdaughter had lice again last weekend. Again. This is the 8th time in the last year. Guess who treated her lice nearly every single time? We did.
6. Mom still doesn’t have a job. She and stepdaughter are moments away from homelessness. Of course, stepdaughter always has a home here.
7. Mom continues to bad-mouth D to stepdaughter. She says it’s his fault that they are “in the streets.” Never mind that mom won’t work.
We we just want some stability for this child. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. D thinks she should be able to go to the same school for more than one year. He doesn’t want her to have to worry about homelessness. He doesn’t want her to have to move again. He doesn’t want her to be placed into situations where one of the men her mom is picking to live with could chose to harm stepdaughter.
We will see how the lawyer consult goes. It distressing to have this little girl who’s going through so much and be unable to protect her from it.
A Stepmother's Journey 