Sons grades

[zipsman03]

Hello out there, in short my son I fear is falling thruogh the cracks in the school system grades are average at best D in science not even average ,he in 6th grade I moved out of state for a job that would afford me to pay my support. The mother is a firefighter which means she's gone 24 straight hours when she's home she's "busy trying to get promoted" step father works afternoons very hands off type wont support him in any way. He needs more structure and a parent at home to keep an eye on him. I have a better situation for him here. My wife is an education stickler highly educated stay at home mom only works when I am off...Fri Sat or Sun works as an RN I was home last month on vacation, So I called and scheduled a PTC with the staff ,they all agreed that the issue is he just needs motivated but also stated they have had no dialogue with mom, she admitted having never visited the school and thinks a C is ok.. heeeeelp!!!

[Sherry1]

but basically, your child needs to study harder.  You can't do it from out of state probably, which was your choice to move.   When you have your son for parenting time maybe you can enroll him in a summer school or Sylvan program.  

You can't force his mother or stepfather to educate him being out of state.

[mistoffolees]

All true. A 6th grader is old enough to do his own work wtihout someone standing over his shoulder. My stbx ruined my middle stepdaughter to sitting with her to get her homework done all the way through the middle school and high school years - so she never learned to work independently. Sounds like your wife is similar to my stbx.

One option would be to sue for custody, but I suspect that it would be unusual for a court to grant custody in a different state purely on the basis of grades. You will also find that it's going to be nearly impossible to convince the court that the fact that the BM works is bad. Unlike the 1960's, stay at home mom's are not considered a pancea.

I guess it's also possible that one might ask the court to appoint a GAL.

However, I don't like either of those approaches except in a last resort. A confrontational position puts you opposing each other when your first consideration should be how you can work TOGETHER to advance your son's needs.

Has there been any discussion with the CP? Seems to me that the first step would be a phone call saynig "I'm concerned about xxx's grades. What can we do to motivate him?"