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To be honest and I don't mean to sound crass - the older child strokes her ego (tells her what she wants to hear-agrees with everything she says).  The younger child has stood up for himself and she doesn't like it.  He calls her on her lies (which are numerous) and that really upsets her!  The other issue is between the child and her live-in boyfriend; they do not get along at all and we think that the boyfriend made her choose between him and her child.  She picked her boyfriend.  She doesn't work and is right now pregnant with a 3rd child from this guy so she pretty much needs him to survive.

The two boy's personalities are very different - one is the peacekeeper/maker and the other more of the rebel.  The younger child has some personality traits like his mother which I'm sure doesn't help - they are butting heads all the time.  She likes everyone to praise her and agree with everything she says or does; regardless if it is right or wrong..... It's been wonderful having to deal with her, lol!

You are right tho.  A normal person would not choose one child over another but we are not talking about a normal person with normal feelings/reactions.  That may sound harsh to some but unfortunately it is the truth.

I talked with fiance and we are getting him back into counseling.  He's talking with the school for recommendations - the person we went to before has moved on and is no longer in this area.  We wish we could go back there - she was wonderful and those are hard to find!  Thanks for everyone's help - I guess we were going to wait and see but now know that probably isn't the right way to handle this situation.  We can only keep moving on and hope the drama ends someday soon!

No, she's never threatened not to take the older child.

We were in joint family counseling but she attended one meeting and cancelled the rest that were scheduled.  We had both kids in counseling and stopped because the counselor said they were fine but are trying to find another counselor, especially for the younger one.  The counselor tried helping her with parenting skills but she wouldn't listen - and this isn't the first time we've tried to get help so the kids didn't have to suffer.

Thanks!

Thanks for the input.  I will talk with fiance and have him start the matter.  She has shown no interest in any visitation with the one child - supervised or not.  How do we protect the other one who she does want to see?  Include both in supervised visitations? - even though there has been no issue with the older child?

We've talked with the older child (especially at x-mas time) about talking to his brother re: mom, things going on at her house, etc.  He understood that it would make his brother feel bad and has been pretty good about it (that we know of anyway)....  He told us that he felt bad about what happened to his brother but he had also been afraid for his brother because he would get hurt by mom's house.

Why do women do this to their children - it is beyond me. I've raised 2 kids and could never justify treating any human being that way much less your own kids.  Such a shame!

The only problem with that is she told the police that "I told him to go to bed and he got dressed and left the house".  Which is complete drivel - he is terrified of the dark and would never leave the house at night, especially alone....  She's an excellent liar and the police believed her.  I had to send my mom to get him because we were both out of town at the time and my mom didn't know what to do so she just took him and brought him home.  Unfortunately, the police still believe the parent even if the child says something different.

He does not want to go over by his mom's anymore and we don't make him (she doesn't ask for him either tho).  My fiance has already told her that any visits would have to supervised due to the turmoil between them.  But it has been about 3 months now since she's seen him.  Even when she comes to pick up the other child she doesn't get out of the car to talk with him.  It's very sad!

The older child will do anything his mother tells him so he will be okay unless he starts talking back, etc... which I doubt.  He will play it safe as he's already seen what she's capable of and doesn't want trouble with her.  His damage will be emotional.  What a mess.

Thanks for your input and help.  I guess we'll have to wait the 6 months and go for abandonment then.

I agree - the emotional damage is great!  The older child is playing both sides to his best advantage (which we understand) because he wants everything to be calm..... The youngest definitely has abandonment issues because his mother doesn't love him.  She carries insurance on them but won't let us have any information - we've tried to get her to comply but it isn't happening.  Court tells her to give it up and she agrees but never does it.  It amazes me how some women can lie and get away with it.  I wouldn't be able to look myself in a mirror if I lied like that!

Anyway, how long would you wait to take her back?  Is six months the normal time to get a change of circumstance case? We don't want her to start taking him again because nothing has changed and he doesn't need that grief anymore. If she finds out we are going to take her back to court that is exactly what she will do.  It has nothing to do with him but she doesn't like anyone to know she's a bad mother.  She's more concerned with appearances than truth.

Thanks!

My fiance already has primary placement of 2 children (11,10).  New orders from October 2008 gives mom EOW; Thursday overnight on the off week and they split the summers.

Since these orders were placed mom has refused to take one of the children - not even for the holidays.  She will come and pick up the one child but not even talk to the other one.  There were issues between youngest child and her live in boyfriend (police were called a few times, social services were involved).  The last time two times she did take him - he called and asked to be picked up one time and the next time she kicked him out of the house (told him to leave at 9:30pm he wasn't welcome anymore.  Wouldn't let him use the phone and he started walking home - we live about 7 miles from her - police picked him up and we went and got him).

So our question is this - and we understand you can't make anyone take their child if they don't want to - how long would you wait to take her back to court to get full legal custody?  Can you get full legal on one child?

She seems fine with things the way they are now but we need to look into his future.  He is adamant about not having to go back there and she is refusing to discuss and/or get any counseling to correct their issues.  We don't like to split the children up but so far things are going okay for the oldest child.  How would you handle this?  Anyone have any ideas?  Thanks!

Thanks for your reply.  Being the mother of 2 adult children I can't understand how some women do this to their child!  We will look into a pediatric psychologist; thanks for the suggestion.  I know he'll probably suffer long term from his mother rejecting him; we've dealt with minor school issues already but we try our hardest to make him understand that it isn't his fault, but that is a fine line to walk with him.....  Thanks again!

my fiance and his ex-wife recently renegotiated a parenting plan.  He has primary placement  for 2 boys (11,10).  She gets eow Friday-Sunday; and opposite Thursday overnite.  Summer is 50/50.

There is a serious issue between mom and youngest son.  They were in therapy but she quit going when therapist suggested that she might be the problem and tried giving her parenting help.  Since the new order has been in place she refuses visitation with youngest child.  Will only take the older boy.

Needless to say there has been ongoing issues for the last 5 years but this is the worst one yet.  I know we can't force her to see her son but we are not sure how to handle this issue.  We don't mind having him full time but we know that it hurts his feelings and he'll have lots of issues in the future.

I think we should just wait 6 months and go back to court to get full legal/placement with supervised visitation (which she won't use) and have child support recalculated.   What would you do?  Any insight would be appreciated.