Hi All- I was wanting some input as to if my husband and I have a case to get custody of my 2 stepsons.
First off a little background: The 2 sons are 8 and 10. My husband the their BM have been divorced for 7 years. My husband and I have been married for 2 years. I have a 9 year old daughter who lives with us and we have a baby on the way due in September. The BM has been remarried for 6 years. She has a 18 month old by her current husband. We get the boys every other weekend, for most holidays, and for half the summer. We are required to pay $400 a month in support.
In about the past year to year and a half her care of the children has deteriorated. When we get the boys for the weekend they always show up filthy. Dirty clothes, hair, undergarment, etc. They almost always have on the same clothes they were in the weekend before. The boys have informed us that they don't have clothes or they don't have clean clothes. I have been keeping a journal of what we have found out is going on with them. At one point we received a dental bill for $600 for the boys. When we saw them after that we found out the oldest had had 5 teeth pulled due to cavities and the younger had 4 pulled for the same reason. We have also found out recently that she is spending no more that 30-45 min. a day with the boys. That is when she gets them up in the morning and takes them to school. The rest of the day she spends at home with the baby then goes off to work at a bar in another town 45 minutes away. She works there all night and then comes home late at night. We have found out from the boys that in the evenings when they are home with the step dad he does not let them out of their room or let them go outside to play. We have spoken to the step dad about the situation and he has informed us that he is divorcing her. He said she is never home, and does not take care of the kids. He has also told us that since before christmas the boys have not been at their house for a weekend. We also know that she signs all the child support checks over to her mother to pay the payment on her new truck. The past year the boys have been sick quite a few times and she has not taken them to the doctor saying she can't afford it when we carry insurance on both of them.
We are very frustrated and worried for the welfare of our boys. They have told us themselves they want to come live with us and they have told her too but she won't let them saying she needs the money.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Toby
First off a little background: The 2 sons are 8 and 10. My husband the their BM have been divorced for 7 years. My husband and I have been married for 2 years. I have a 9 year old daughter who lives with us and we have a baby on the way due in September. The BM has been remarried for 6 years. She has a 18 month old by her current husband. We get the boys every other weekend, for most holidays, and for half the summer. We are required to pay $400 a month in support.
In about the past year to year and a half her care of the children has deteriorated. When we get the boys for the weekend they always show up filthy. Dirty clothes, hair, undergarment, etc. They almost always have on the same clothes they were in the weekend before. The boys have informed us that they don't have clothes or they don't have clean clothes. I have been keeping a journal of what we have found out is going on with them. At one point we received a dental bill for $600 for the boys. When we saw them after that we found out the oldest had had 5 teeth pulled due to cavities and the younger had 4 pulled for the same reason. We have also found out recently that she is spending no more that 30-45 min. a day with the boys. That is when she gets them up in the morning and takes them to school. The rest of the day she spends at home with the baby then goes off to work at a bar in another town 45 minutes away. She works there all night and then comes home late at night. We have found out from the boys that in the evenings when they are home with the step dad he does not let them out of their room or let them go outside to play. We have spoken to the step dad about the situation and he has informed us that he is divorcing her. He said she is never home, and does not take care of the kids. He has also told us that since before christmas the boys have not been at their house for a weekend. We also know that she signs all the child support checks over to her mother to pay the payment on her new truck. The past year the boys have been sick quite a few times and she has not taken them to the doctor saying she can't afford it when we carry insurance on both of them.
We are very frustrated and worried for the welfare of our boys. They have told us themselves they want to come live with us and they have told her too but she won't let them saying she needs the money.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Toby