Well, in a nutshell, for those of us, with one or more stepchildren who have left and gone back to their biological parents where life is "far better" or shall I say the grass is greener.....accentuate the positive. It's been over a year now and my stepson is still talking with my husband now and that is pretty consistent and he is coming back to visit at Easter (I think with his girlfriend in April). So, 50% is better than nothing, and you can never tell if in a couple of years, my SD may clean herself up. I was just looking at her chatterbox on xanga and starting to recognize some of the terminology she has been using. For instance, when she is popping her Mom's prescription drugs she uses terms like "swirly twirly, plop" . She is now mixing pills with alcohol but you cannot discuss this with her mother as her mom has issues as well. It's unfortunate....but at least only another year left to go. You can't help people that don't want to be helped or are ready to be helped. Maybe time will change things. Hope that maybe something else I did today was positive for someone.