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SD caught in school

Just confused's picture

please read past blogs to understand the story. 

DH just got told by his daughters maternal grandmother that she was just caught with marijuana at school. I guess she was trying to sell it online and at school. My DH doesn’t seem to understand why i don’t think it is a good idea to have her around our two younger children. She just turned 13. I just don’t know what to do or what to say. I needed to vent and maybe get some helpful advice & opinions.

Before you think I’m trying to tell him to keep his daughter away from her family, read my first blog. She hasn’t been in our lives until recently. 

Comments

beebeel's picture

In your situation, I would encourage your dh to build a relationship with this kid before bringing her around (if ever if her problems persist). That means he can take her to dinner, to a park or elsewhere to spend time with her. 

STaround's picture

Harder, but if he works at it, he can build a relationship outside of your house.  If I were DH, I would also get in contace with school immediately.  He should be hearing this stuff from them, not grandma.     GL

justmakingthebest's picture

I think this is a pretty obvious grab for attention. Your DH needs to step up and be a dad to her. I read your blogs and have commented before. Just becasue he became a father at 16 doesn't give him the excuse to abandon her like he did. He needs to step up and be her father. He needs to parent- take control of the situation. 

I understand that you are using your youngers as an excuse to keep her out of your life- that is wrong. Weed is something that many, many teens experiment with. Your kids might too one day, no matter how they are raised.

beebeel's picture

A. According to her blogs, he was 14 when the kid was born.

B. He didn't "abandon" anyone. As an unmarried minor, he had zero rights to that kid.

C. Selling pot at 13 strikes me as a bit more than "experimentation" -- something I did extensively yet never turned into a dealer.

justmakingthebest's picture

I missed the part about selling it online. 

I stand by being a teen dad. He became a parent and had the legal rights as such. He chose to let his GF's mom take over and walk away and now his daughter is paying the price. She sees an addict mom and her dad having a new perfect little family and is acting out. ALL perfectly normal. DAD needs to be a dad.

beebeel's picture

Um...unmarried minor males have zero rights to any child they produce. At 14, how do you propose he should have paid for an attorney to secure any rights? You really think he could have done it without one?

My DH was a teen dad (15) , and a shotgun wedding the day he turned 18 was the only way he could ensure he had rights. That option wasn't available to this guy as grandma already had custody rather than biomom for four years by the time he became an adult.

justmakingthebest's picture

Yes, unmarried single teen fathers have as many rights as the mother. Neither of them have $$. Both have rights.

fourbrats's picture

clearly states that her husband chose not to fight for his daughter because the grandma was wealthy. She says it in her first blog. And mind you, their oldest child was another "teenage mistake" but the only mistake the OP is worried about is the one he has with another woman. 

And yes, unmarried male minors have equal rights. If he could produce another child at 18 then he could have gone to court for visitation of his older child. He chose not to. There are federal laws that protect his rights, minor or not. And assistance for obtaining visitation. Hell, he could have gone to the court hearings giving grandma custody even without an attorney and asked for visits. 

 

beebeel's picture

In some states, a minor can't even file for custody on their own, a guardian of his would have had to file on his behalf. This guy's parents were addicts and of zero help if I remember it right.

If everything is so even Steven under the law, why are there literally hundreds of fathers rights attorneys and questions about teen fathers' rights online yet nary a peep about mother's rights and no subset of the law just for mothers?

fourbrats's picture

have not caught up to federal law but when the state is challenged at the federal level they lose and have made strides in changing the law. Father's rights attorneys are there just for that. To ensure the law is followed. There is still a federal law that protects said rights. The OP's husband could have taken himself down to the courthouse and asked for help. He didn't. They would have assigned him an attorney to act as the guardian and file for at least visitation. He chose not to. Instead he had two more kids at a very young age. 

 

Even if he couldn't figure out how to do it at 14, he could have at 16, 17, 18. and so on. At 16 he was in a serious relationship with his now wife, so I am sure he could figure out how to get to the courthouse. 

beebeel's picture

Oh, so now the kid should have brought his case to the state supreme court! Hahahaha.

TwoOfUs's picture

Sure. 

I mean...he couldn't even legally drive at this point...but yeah. Maybe he could have walked to the courthouse and challenged an adult with money and power for the rights to his baby who he had zero legal way to support (you know...because in most states, 14-year-olds can't work yet, either.) 

This is absurd. 

justmakingthebest's picture

So what was the excuse at 16, 17, 18, 25?? I am not saying BM is a gem. I am not saying that GBM is any better - except she fronted the $$ to raise SD. What is being said is that OP's DH chose this life, ditched the girl, decided to come back in her life, now they are dealing with a troubled girl and he needs to grow up and doing something about the problems his choices have created. 

TwoOfUs's picture

No...he didn't "choose this life" at all. 

He got railroaded into it by an adult at 14...and now that same adult wants to drop the responsibility back in his lap after all the baby-bonding time and fun stuff is over...now that the kid is a hoodlum, difficult, and expensive it's suddenly imperative that she have a relationship with Dadddeeee!!! 

If you read OP's original blogs, you would see that they agreed in court that her DH wouldn't have contact with the girl until she was 18 (a legal adult...and then it would be both of their choice) but the Grandma pushed her back into his life now. He didn't "decide to come back into her life" at all. 

I think it's fine and good to try to have a relationship with his daughter...and I hope that works out well for him. I just think the timing is awfully suspect...and I don't think it's "his fault" or that she turned out this way because he "abandoned her" as a baby. Puh-lease. He was FOURTEEN!! I also don't think OP is unreasonable to ask him to take it slow, not force anything too quickly, and not bring the girl into their home with their two younger children. That's an incredibly wise and mature request, given the circumstances. 

justmakingthebest's picture

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-rights-do-teen-fathers-have---11...

 

Here is one attorney's answer- Yes. He will have to support the child- McDonald's counts as a job and his CS might have only been $20/week but he should have done it. He would have visitation scheduled. He could have been a part of the baby's life. He took the easy route when GF's mom made it all "go away". Now the little problem is back and has issues. He needs to act like a father. 

hereiam's picture

"Just becasue he became a father at 16 doesn't give him the excuse to abandon her like he did."

Both bio parents gave up custody of the girl to the grandmother because neither could take care of a child. It is the same as people who give their child up for adoption. It is not abandonment.

beebeel's picture

Biomoms can choose adoptions. Fathers can agree with that choice or not, but they don't make the decision.

ProbablyAlreadyInsane's picture

justmakingthebest. An unmarried single teen father CAN GET rights. They don't atutomatically have them. All rights would default to the mother. Legal actions would have to have been taken in order for the father to secure the rights. So as he was 14, I'm doubting that happened. Since G-ma has had custody for four years now and it has yet to go to court to establish rights, he likely doesn't have any.

He likely could still get them pretty easily. It just doesn't sound like a situation where they've been established yet.

justmakingthebest's picture

Thank you! 

I never said it would have been easy but he COULD have done more than let GF's mom take over. Not saying it would have been better being raised by a teen dad- but at least it would have been her dad raising her and making these mistakes. 

He could have been emancipated, he could have had public housing, he could have done a lot of things- but he had the rights to do them all if he got things established. He chose to walk away instead of fight. Now his daughter is a hot mess. He needs to do the clean up.

ProbablyAlreadyInsane's picture

I think letting the kid go IS sometimes the more responsible choice. No she didn't turn out ideal. But a child raising a child? That would have led to issues for everyone. SD may not be great, but she really had a better shot with the Adult... At 14 that may have been his line of thinking as well. Or he could have been coaxed into it. When you're 14 and a BIG thing like this happens, someone swoops in and says "she'll be better with me" I'm sure that you want to believe it all. 14 is a VERy selfish age, a very confusing age. I'm not saying running away from responsibilities is right, but done is done. And it's definitely possible everyone thought they were doing what was best for the baby.

Just as a side note. I do public housing software. He wouldn't have qualified. Too young. He'd need an adult in the unit. Emancipating with how his parents were likely could have left both him and SD homeless. Expecially without a source of income. Plus those waiting lists can be YEARS long.

He's starting the process, but I also understand OP's wishes for it to stay out of the home for now. He will ultimately have to spend time cleaning it up, but in the meantime, I agree that a few things need to stabilize before she's around the other kids.

beebeel's picture

LOL

justmakingthebest's picture

I mean $30 in court costs really isn't a big deal and he could have filed himself. 

beebeel's picture

LOL yep. Most 14 year olds I know are super prepared to represent themselves in court. Is someone handing out Pollyanna juice cocktails this morning?

beebeel's picture

And if this guy has the money to take this to court to secure visitation rights, among others, I guarantee it would be through a long, drawn out reunification process involving supervised visits for months before any home visits were awarded. See, the courts don't even believe thrusting a child into an unfamiliar home with virtual strangers would be any good for the kid. 

Those insisting this guy should or even COULD immediately right the rails on this train wreck are living in fantasy land.

beebeel's picture

Oh and if we're just going to focus on all the "could haves" and "should haves" how about:

Grandma should have taught her daughter about sex and pregnancy. She should have encouraged her daughter to choose a real adoptive parent rather than churning out yet another seriously troubled girl. Mom should have got HER shit together and been a parent. Lots of blame to spread, but it doesn't help anyone going forward.

still learning's picture

 One way to view this is that SD is a budding entrepreneur and her talents just need to be channeled into a legal venue.  What else can the little darling sell for a profit besides pot or drugs?  Can she help local charities with fundraising?  DH should seriously help channel that energy for good.  

He's either in or out, being an unreliable adult in her life isn't good for anyone. 

 

TwoOfUs's picture

Oh brother. 

I can't believe this crap I'm reading. 

Oh, yes. By all means...let's transplant a toxic situation into a peaceful, loving home and take down two more kids in the process. That sounds like a brilliant plan! And while we're at it, lets put all the blame for the effed up situation squarely on the guy's shoulders who was 14 at the time...and lets call his current wife on the carpet for trying to protect her own kids. Sounds reasonable. 

If this were a driving course, these reactions would be called an overcorrection...swinging too far back in the opposite direction to correct an initial mistake. Anyone who teaches driving will tell you that overcorrections are far more dangerous and cause far more wrecks than the initial mistakes they're meant to correct. 

Here's how I see the situation, for what it's worth. Two young teens make a "mistake" and the girl becomes pregnant. The mom of the girl panics and wants to insert herself into the situation as Grandma and hero. Totally understandable. Grandma-hero throws her age and her money around to get custody of the child. Also totally understandable. BOTH young teens move on with their lives. Also totally understandable. Really...no issues up to this point. This happens all the time when young teens become pregnant and don't know what to do. 

Grandma was maybe 40-50 when her teen daughter got pregnant...and it was real fun having a cute little baby in the house again. She got to be there for her first steps, take her to Kindergarten...enjoy all the cute things she said and be there for all of her firsts. But now Grandma is facing down 60 if she's not there already...and she's raised a little hellian. Probably because she never told her "no" once in her life. She's getting tired...her granddaughter isn't nearly as cute anymore...and, worst of all, she's starting to cost some real money. When will she launch, if ever? Who will pay for college...if she's even able to go? Surely there's an end in sight? 

Ah. There's my escape route. Isn't it time that Daddeeeee "stepped up" and "acted like a man" and started "being there" for his own daughter? Now that I've done all the fun part...doesn't he have some responsibility to help her through her teenage years and buy her the expensive teenage stuff she wants? 

I mean, I could have supported BOTH my daughter and her boyfriend and helped them become parents to this little girl...as the adult, that was within my power. But that's not what I wanted. I wanted complete control and I wanted to make the situation "go away" so to speak. But now it's harder...so Daddddeeee should probably "step up" right? 

Really this kind of makes me sick. It's up to OP's husband what kind of relationship he wants to try to have with his daughter (not saying it's likely to take) but OP is not only reasonable to request he do so away from their home...but also very wise. That's not too much to ask in this situation...have your relationship, just do it elsewhere...

SteppedOut's picture

AGREE! 

And, sorry, but any thoughts that a 14 year old should have stepped up to obtain visistation/custody on their own (with no viable parents to help him) is complete nonsense!

If I was the parent of a 14 year old that became pregnant I would want to ensure the best for not only the baby - but also the 14 year old parents (both boy and girl) and strongly suggest adoption for the baby. The children, because at 14 they ARE CHILDREN, made a greivous error, but they along with the baby should not be made to suffer that error for life. 

The grandmother decided to take on the baby. Now that the baby is an ill behaved teen SHE is trying to pass the buck. 

 

 

Just confused's picture

I want to thank everyone who understands where I am coming from. As soon as they build a stronger bond and she gets the help and is in a better state of mind, she will be more than welcomed into our home, around her siblings. I’m not looking for an excuse to get keep them a part. He texts her every day, visits her at least once a week. But this is so new to everyone. He is easing his way into a father figure rule, but there is only so much he can do or say right now.

Justmakingthebest, you seem to have your own issues to work through. Good luck on your journey Wink

CLove's picture

Read the comments here in reaction to your post, and re-read your previous posts. As a non-bio stepmother to 2 skids, I understand what it is like to have a crazy high conflict BM. And that sometimes results in a troubled child. Heck, even in a perfectly stable nuclear family, the children tend to go off the deep end when they hit teenage years. Shes 13. Ever seen that movie "13", written by an actress when she was 13, and acted in it as well?. Teens do all kinds of crazy things, and well, they age, and hopefully grow out of it. My brother was experiementing (got caught) and he graduated high school with honors, and went to college, and ended up with a masters. Experiementing with MJ is not unheard of. But she needs to know someone cares enough to give her heck. Her cutting, all that, shows she is crying out for attention. Grma probably enabled her to an extent - its tough raising a kid alone, if you arent strong enough to tell them no and give boundaries. I watched as my own grandma tried raising my uncle (who is my age) and then raising HIS 5 children. She would alternate between yelling at them and coddling them. They learned how to manipulate money out of her.

Your natural maternal instincts to protect your littles is understandable. Grams is older now and having a  tough time dealing with SD emotionally. She sounds like a handful. But, your DH should definitely persist, just not be a doormat/ATM. 

All that "hindsight" talk of he could have done this or that, at the age of 14. Well, I remember what is what like to be 14 - there is no way that anyone would even understand what "parental rights" are, much less how to get them. In this day, of course there is google, but back then??? Yeah.

So, it is great that now the girl has a chance to have a father in her life. Take it slow.