- Jurisdiction
- South Dakota
This isn't a question but an example for people who don't seem to understand just how low the threshold for parenting is in America.
My ex husband's oldest son was the result of a one night stand. He was 19, she was 17. He didn't know she got pregnant at all until she had the baby but even then he didn't know that was his kid until she came back around when his son was 2 months old and said he is the father (kid is the spitting image of him). He never filed for custody or visitation but he has a child support order and took a DNA test. The mom married someone else and he married his first wife.
Then about three years ago he and I were together. I was pregnant with our daughter. He came home one night upset because he got a call from the baby mama's brother that their son went to school and had welts on his back and said his stepfather beat him with a belt. He and his half siblings were all taken away. I think the mother and stepfather were divorced at this point or close to it. I can't remember. So they bounce around between family and foster care. I told my ex husband to fight for custody (he would have gotten it for sure while we were married) and he didn't. The mom ends up getting back on meth and goes to jail. The kids - including my ex stepson - end up going to his stepfather (the other kids' father) and he has had custody for the last two years.
The mom has been in and out of jail and on and off drugs for the last two years. She just got out earlier this year. February I think. She appears to be staying sober, working, getting her life together. She just posted yesterday on FB that her son is staying with her and she will be getting her other kids soon.
So you have an abusive parent and a drug addict who both were able to get custody of their kids and a stepchild. She has only been out of jail since Feb and had been out of the kids lives for two years and seems to be getting them back. That is how low the threshold is for being a parent in this country. They might be better off with her than the abusive jerk they have been with. But just for people who ask about custody and then bring up how the other parent is a drug addict or abusive or whatever - in some places it doesn't even really seem to matter.
My ex husband's oldest son was the result of a one night stand. He was 19, she was 17. He didn't know she got pregnant at all until she had the baby but even then he didn't know that was his kid until she came back around when his son was 2 months old and said he is the father (kid is the spitting image of him). He never filed for custody or visitation but he has a child support order and took a DNA test. The mom married someone else and he married his first wife.
Then about three years ago he and I were together. I was pregnant with our daughter. He came home one night upset because he got a call from the baby mama's brother that their son went to school and had welts on his back and said his stepfather beat him with a belt. He and his half siblings were all taken away. I think the mother and stepfather were divorced at this point or close to it. I can't remember. So they bounce around between family and foster care. I told my ex husband to fight for custody (he would have gotten it for sure while we were married) and he didn't. The mom ends up getting back on meth and goes to jail. The kids - including my ex stepson - end up going to his stepfather (the other kids' father) and he has had custody for the last two years.
The mom has been in and out of jail and on and off drugs for the last two years. She just got out earlier this year. February I think. She appears to be staying sober, working, getting her life together. She just posted yesterday on FB that her son is staying with her and she will be getting her other kids soon.
So you have an abusive parent and a drug addict who both were able to get custody of their kids and a stepchild. She has only been out of jail since Feb and had been out of the kids lives for two years and seems to be getting them back. That is how low the threshold is for being a parent in this country. They might be better off with her than the abusive jerk they have been with. But just for people who ask about custody and then bring up how the other parent is a drug addict or abusive or whatever - in some places it doesn't even really seem to matter.
