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Fulltime Stepmom- NEED HELP!

aep0418's picture

I am currently raising my husbands two daughters from a previous marriage. We won custody nearly two and a half years ago when the kids were four and seven. The Biological Mom (BM) has SUPERVISED visitation with her mother (kids maternal grandmother) listed as the approved supervisor. Last weekend, after their supervised visit, the youngest came home complaining that it hurt to pee. Scared she had a UTI I took her to the doctors office Monday morning. The doctor examined her with me present and the child was severly red in the vaginal area. I asked the doctor what was causing the redness and she stated that this level of redness is consistant with either sexual abuse or a yeast infection which was likely caused by wearing too tight of clothing, staying in wet clothing for too long, bathing in an unclean tub, and wiping improperly. Two years ago, the same child told her therapist that her younger sister(lives with the maternal grandmother and is from a different man than my husband) was touching her sexually and inappropriately. The therapist called CPS and the case was investigated and ruled unfounded after they played guilt trips on the child and made her feel like if she stuck to her story she wouldn't get to see her mom or grandma (of course the child changed her story). Like I told the doctor, I do not believe that she is currently being sexually abused in anyway, and I am confident that the child would tell us if something like that was going on. The child also told the doctor that she hasn't been touched or hurt in her private area. Shes been using the cream the Dr. gave and is doing much better now. Before this weekends visitation, my husband asked the grandmother (who provides all transportation because the BM doesn't have a license because she owes over 4g in child support)to more closely monitor the oldest eating. The oldest child is 10 and weighs 127 pounds. Her moms side is on the larger side and I understand her metabolism isn't what her sisters is. When I took the oldest for her physical over a year ago the doctor was concerned about her BMI. He discussed with her the importance of eating the right portion sizes (fist sized), making healthy eating choices (adding more fruits and vegetables), and staying fit and active. My husband has two younger school aged sisters who are both being tested for Juvenile Diabetes because they are so large from constantly overeating. My husband called the grandmother last night because he was finally fed up with everything. The oldest gained three pounds over the weekend! She told us she had two bagels and three pancakes for breakfast, two pieces of pizza and a bunch of wings for lunch. AM I WRONG OR IS THIS WAY TOO MUCH FOR A TEN YEAR OLD GIRL? My husband relayed the information that the doctor said about the youngest yeast infection and his concerns about Nicole's eating once again and she flipped out like her entire bi-polar family does when they don't like what they hear. The grandmother became irrational and impossible to communicate with. My husband told her she is clearly not fit to continue supervising the visitation since she cannot be an adult and communicate with him. The grandmother "refuses to deny anything to her grandchildren or to put them on a diet." He told her multiple times it's not a diet she can eat whatever she wants, she just needs to eat a ten year olds sized portion! She went off accusing him of accusing her of sexual abuse and abusing the children when he was simply trying to relay the information the doctor shared with us and his concerns about the oldest's health! She threatened to help her daughter get custody of my husbands two kids and that shes ready to have them back (when just last month the grandmother won custody again after the daughter tried to get her back). If she was really ready to have them back then why do you still have her third child?!?! We are in a bind because the oldest has made it clear to her therapist and us that she doesn't want to go to visitation anymore. If we file for a change in visitation/ custody we leave the opportunity open for the BM to seek unsupervised visitation with the girls because the deal her and her mother made in order for her mom to keep the child was to in exchange allow unsupervised visitation with her third child. We have already spent over 15k fighting this woman and my husband has missed 16 days of work this last year to answer petitions in four different counties where the BM is trying to get her child support lowered after voluntarily quiting her job that paid more than my husbands! She is also now receiving social services and free lawyers/ the cost of all these court dates all on you TAXPAYERS. Not sure how to proceed, any advice is appreciated. I have created a support group on facebook to try and help get through this. If you are in a similar situation or are just plain sick of baby momma drama and want to join me here is the link https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/groups/322463667824287/

the_stepmonster's picture

Your story is somewhat similar to mine. I have 3 SDs (5, 10 and 11). SD5 and SD10 are currently living with their maternal grandmother because BM could not take care of them (could not get along with SD10 and just plain was not feeding, providing proper care, etc to SD5) so grandma took custody of them without ever informing us of the change until they were already enrolled in school with her. SD11 is living with us now because she never went with her grandmother but we recently made BM sign custody modification forms since she started working nights at a bar.

SD10 is overweight and the grandparents have informed us that although she is eating child portions with them, she is sneaking food at night. I don't know how much I believe that considering she has a hefty appetite and often tries to overindulge when she is with us. I think they just don't know how to tell her no. In addition, prior to SD5 living with her grandparents, she would routinely be scratching her lady area because it was infected. Turns out BM was not bathing her regularly and she would have to wear the same dirty undies for days, causing an infection.

At this point, the grandparents have stopped covering and defending BM and are cooperating with us and the other 2 girls are moving in with us at the end of this school year. The only advice I have for you is to document everything if you want a change in the approved supervisor for the visitations. In addition, at this point I would not pursue CS until BM has a real job with an employer that will cooperate. Our BM was currently fired from her teaching position and is working at a bar now mainly for tips, so CS is a lost cause. We are just counting our blessings that we are no longer paying her.

Can I ask why BM is required to have supervised visits? Is it related to the CPS case even though that case was never proved?

aep0418's picture

Mom makes really bad choices when it comes to men... She had her sister living with her and her boyfriend which we didn't know about. The boyfriend beat the oldest once to discipline her because the BM refuses to discipline the children (it took a year before they were close to normal and it was a nightmare getting them to eat vegetables and to stop really bad behaviors and habits they had at BM's). My husband warned his ex that if he ever put his hands on his daughter again or he found out that the kids were left alone with him for any reason that he would be taking her to court for custody. The BM let the boyfriend babysit the kids... the grandmother flipped out and called us immediately. That day we filed a family offense petition and grandma was awarded temporary custody of the other kid and us my husbands two kids. In addition, SD7 was sleeping on the floor because her aunt and her two kids were in her and her sisters bedroom. She came to us every other weekend with flea bites alll over. The younger sister was sleeping in a crib (far to small for her). The BM was never with the kids an always pawned them off on her mom. My husband called everyday and the kids would hear him leaving voicemails and she refused to let him talk to his kids. The BM refused to kick the boyfriend out and denies everything and to this day states that the two day custody trial accusations were all BS. The boyfriend turned on her and testified against her in court, so did her sister who was living with her, and her own mother. Parental alienation+ enabling abuse of your kids+ the conditions of her animals and the house+ constantly making bad choices regarding men= supervised visistation.

the_stepmonster's picture

This makes me reconsider our current visitation agreement with the BM. Thankfully at this point she rarely uses her visitation time and the girls spend that time with their grandparents since she would much rather go out and party. However, when the girls were living with BM she would never feed them, drink until she passed out, pawn them off on her parents every chance she got, wouldn't care if they skipped school, lived in a trashy environment (literally would never clean and have liquor and wine bottles everywhere), etc. If it came to the point where she was taking them home with her and subjecting them to that again, I think we would be in the same boat as you.