What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kansas
OK, I am the step mother to a 6 year old little girl born out of wedlock. 2 years ago, my husband had joint custody with every other weekend and holiday visits according to a local rule. As of August, he has residential custody with the mother having extended every other weekend visits.
My question for you all is this: There have been several instances where the mother has done inappropriate things that the child is shown or subjected to. The child has reported these issues to her father, myself and other members of the community. First instance was her mother using a syringe full of "pain medicine" to inject into her arm- at home- in front of the child where she could demonstrate the action very well. Husband was concerned- confronted the mother who said she had a bone disease and had to take this medicine per doctor's orders- Mother has a prior history of drug use and drug related dealings including her house being raided by the KBI 3 times in the previous years. When this was brought up to the lawyers etc there was nothing to be done except go to court.
In December, the child was shown images on her mother's phone of a miscarried fetus the mother had delivered. Mother admitted all over town to showing this and many of the elderly and older women became upset about it- I was confronted in the store by one such lady that thought I had miscarried and shown the images to the child. The child said no, I wasn't her mom that I was her step mom so the woman calmed down but, was going to call the abuse hotline about it. Husband was notified that there was a report but that it was emotional abuse and SRS/Child Protection does not deal with it especially when there is a custody case as well.
Last night, we received 3 phone calls from angry parents because my step daughter announced at recess that her grandpa- her mother's father- gave her a bath outside with the garden hose- without clothes on-and that her mother had taken pictures of it. She then said her grandpa had the picture on his refridgerator at home. One of the mothers accused child pornography and said she didn't want her child anywhere near my step daughter and would speak to the school about keeping them seperate during recesses. My husband was upset and asked his daughter about it- she confirmed everything that the mothers had said on the phone. He spoke to his lawyer this morning who said that he was going to try and get a case manager appointed to monitor the custody case/ issues but that there wasn't much else we could do about it for now that the mother just continually makes bad decisions.
I know SRS and Child Protection are probably pretty busy etc but it seems like this stuff keeps adding up. And more and more people are becoming involved due to my step daughter's actions/ discussions at school. The school has spoken to the child on a couple of different occasions for things she's said that have upset the parents- my husband found out because the parent told him- not the superintendent that had spoken to his daughter.
Does anyone have any recommendations for this type of stuff? We don't want the child shunned at school and have talked to her about what's appropriate and what's not but...we have suspicions that it might be true too. And if she thinks it ok to be outside nude, that seems like an invitation for pedophiles.
Does anyone have experience dealing with the public on issues like this with regard to the child at least- some people in town really aren't that nice about filtering what they say about situations
OK, I am the step mother to a 6 year old little girl born out of wedlock. 2 years ago, my husband had joint custody with every other weekend and holiday visits according to a local rule. As of August, he has residential custody with the mother having extended every other weekend visits.
My question for you all is this: There have been several instances where the mother has done inappropriate things that the child is shown or subjected to. The child has reported these issues to her father, myself and other members of the community. First instance was her mother using a syringe full of "pain medicine" to inject into her arm- at home- in front of the child where she could demonstrate the action very well. Husband was concerned- confronted the mother who said she had a bone disease and had to take this medicine per doctor's orders- Mother has a prior history of drug use and drug related dealings including her house being raided by the KBI 3 times in the previous years. When this was brought up to the lawyers etc there was nothing to be done except go to court.
In December, the child was shown images on her mother's phone of a miscarried fetus the mother had delivered. Mother admitted all over town to showing this and many of the elderly and older women became upset about it- I was confronted in the store by one such lady that thought I had miscarried and shown the images to the child. The child said no, I wasn't her mom that I was her step mom so the woman calmed down but, was going to call the abuse hotline about it. Husband was notified that there was a report but that it was emotional abuse and SRS/Child Protection does not deal with it especially when there is a custody case as well.
Last night, we received 3 phone calls from angry parents because my step daughter announced at recess that her grandpa- her mother's father- gave her a bath outside with the garden hose- without clothes on-and that her mother had taken pictures of it. She then said her grandpa had the picture on his refridgerator at home. One of the mothers accused child pornography and said she didn't want her child anywhere near my step daughter and would speak to the school about keeping them seperate during recesses. My husband was upset and asked his daughter about it- she confirmed everything that the mothers had said on the phone. He spoke to his lawyer this morning who said that he was going to try and get a case manager appointed to monitor the custody case/ issues but that there wasn't much else we could do about it for now that the mother just continually makes bad decisions.
I know SRS and Child Protection are probably pretty busy etc but it seems like this stuff keeps adding up. And more and more people are becoming involved due to my step daughter's actions/ discussions at school. The school has spoken to the child on a couple of different occasions for things she's said that have upset the parents- my husband found out because the parent told him- not the superintendent that had spoken to his daughter.
Does anyone have any recommendations for this type of stuff? We don't want the child shunned at school and have talked to her about what's appropriate and what's not but...we have suspicions that it might be true too. And if she thinks it ok to be outside nude, that seems like an invitation for pedophiles.
Does anyone have experience dealing with the public on issues like this with regard to the child at least- some people in town really aren't that nice about filtering what they say about situations