Oh goodness where do I start. My niece is 5-years-old now, and her father has half custody of her. What happened was my sister got pregnant at 13 and had my niece at 14. Well the father's mother and him threatened my sister to sign half custody away of my niece otherwise they would take full custody and all this other stuff. They had my sister sign the papers when no other adult was around, and had this lady notorize the paper after my sister had signed it and she wasn't even there.
So that's the beginning, I don't even know where to start. The father doesn't work, which was required by the courts, he never graduated high school, which was required by the courts, and yet the courts STILL won't do anything about it. There are about 10+ instances where my sister has gotten my niece back from him and she's had to take her right to the ER because she was so sick. Ever since she was a baby. But the courts won't acknowlege that.
The father's mother really does all the talking, they're using my niece as a little puppet, the father doesn't really want anything to do with her, they just don't want to have to pay childsupport, which is quite sad. My niece's father does drugs in front of her, so much to the point that she knows who the "weed man" is. She was at my mother's house one day and a car pulled up, which was the mail man since in smaller towns like Grantsburg they use private cars to deliver the mail, my niece started yelling "Weed man is here, weed man is here!". Which is sad.
I don't live down in Grantsburg, I live in Duluth, but one of the last times I was home, my niece was getting ready to go back to her fathers, and she was crying and saying she didn't want to go there because she hates her dad. Talk about one of THE hardest things to ever hear a 5-year-old say, and there's nothing you can do about it. It just broke my heart.
There are SO many things going on, and the judge just won't do anything about it because my sister doesn't have a lawyer to defend her. None of my family has the money to pay for one. My sister is a single mother of 3, she works, and goes to college so that she can better the lives of her daughters.
No one in that county will do ANYTHING to help my sister. They let me niece live in a house with my niece's uncle, who is her fathers brother, who has been in and out of prison for meth and other drugs, and is currently being questioned for the disappearance of a girl in that town. To me that doesnt sound like a safe place for a 5-year-old.
It's the judicial systems job to make sure that kids are in the best hands, they're supposed to protect them not put them in a place where they're worse off. To me it doesn't make sense. And the fact that NO lawyer will even listen to my sister is absolutely disgusting! Is that what they get paid all that money for?!?! To help people?!?!
There are a million more things that go with this whole thing, but there isn't enough time in the day. I finally was set off, when I found out he's trying to not allow my niece to be in my wedding, that's the last straw. I said I'd give up my wedding and all the money I've saved without second guessing if I knew that my niece would no longer be in harms way. But no one will listen to me either, and it makes absolutely no sense.
So that's the beginning, I don't even know where to start. The father doesn't work, which was required by the courts, he never graduated high school, which was required by the courts, and yet the courts STILL won't do anything about it. There are about 10+ instances where my sister has gotten my niece back from him and she's had to take her right to the ER because she was so sick. Ever since she was a baby. But the courts won't acknowlege that.
The father's mother really does all the talking, they're using my niece as a little puppet, the father doesn't really want anything to do with her, they just don't want to have to pay childsupport, which is quite sad. My niece's father does drugs in front of her, so much to the point that she knows who the "weed man" is. She was at my mother's house one day and a car pulled up, which was the mail man since in smaller towns like Grantsburg they use private cars to deliver the mail, my niece started yelling "Weed man is here, weed man is here!". Which is sad.
I don't live down in Grantsburg, I live in Duluth, but one of the last times I was home, my niece was getting ready to go back to her fathers, and she was crying and saying she didn't want to go there because she hates her dad. Talk about one of THE hardest things to ever hear a 5-year-old say, and there's nothing you can do about it. It just broke my heart.
There are SO many things going on, and the judge just won't do anything about it because my sister doesn't have a lawyer to defend her. None of my family has the money to pay for one. My sister is a single mother of 3, she works, and goes to college so that she can better the lives of her daughters.
No one in that county will do ANYTHING to help my sister. They let me niece live in a house with my niece's uncle, who is her fathers brother, who has been in and out of prison for meth and other drugs, and is currently being questioned for the disappearance of a girl in that town. To me that doesnt sound like a safe place for a 5-year-old.
It's the judicial systems job to make sure that kids are in the best hands, they're supposed to protect them not put them in a place where they're worse off. To me it doesn't make sense. And the fact that NO lawyer will even listen to my sister is absolutely disgusting! Is that what they get paid all that money for?!?! To help people?!?!
There are a million more things that go with this whole thing, but there isn't enough time in the day. I finally was set off, when I found out he's trying to not allow my niece to be in my wedding, that's the last straw. I said I'd give up my wedding and all the money I've saved without second guessing if I knew that my niece would no longer be in harms way. But no one will listen to me either, and it makes absolutely no sense.
