need advice

[ffwife026]

What is the name of your state?Ky. I live in Ky and I have a stepdaughter in Florida.I just need some information that might help my husband out any help would be great.
My stepdaughter is 14 and will be 15 in May.Her mother was just evicted from her home in Feb. during this time they have stayed with whoever wherever.This is not the only child she has three by three diffrent men. My stepdaughter has not even been in school this year she was expelled sometime during the first of the year.Since then she went to an alternitive school and was expelled there as well. The reason being is her mother needed her at home and wouldn't get her up. In November of this past year(2004) the child came to Ky and spent 3 weeks with us. During that time the child called HRS in Fla due to the fact that her sister called her and told her her mother had blacked her eye. HRS (Family and children) went to the school and to the home and nothing was done about it. When my stepdaughter was due to go back to Fla. she begged me and her daddy not to send her back.There was nothing we could do because we needed an attorney in Fla.That was because the child has been a resident there all her life. Now she is not in school nor does she have a home.
My question is does my husband have a leg to stand on if he should file for coustody of her or would we just get kicked in the teeth again? I have been with this child since she was 4 years old I know I am just a stepmom but she is so much like mine.While she was here visiting she told me several times that I was more of a mother to her then her own mom. She lives in alot of mental and sometimes physical abuse.What can we do? I don't want her to end up on the wrong side of the tracks and be a pregnate teenager and if we don't do something now Im affraid that is what is going to happen. PLEASE HELP US. Thank You Scared for Stepdaughter

 

[helen7]

I have complete sympothy for your situation. My husband just went through the same thing. He got temporary custody of his 2 boys last month. The boys were living in a very similar situation. The 6 year old was not going to school because mom didnt want to get them up and take them after her overnight drug binge. The school thankfully stepped in and pressed charges on her for contributing to the urulyness of a child. Thats when we stepped in and fought for custody. The mom is a drug user, but had no proof of it. But, the school thing was enough. Her own mother testified against her to that fact that she was also court ordered to live with her mother, and she had not been. What we did, was got all of the boys' school records, all corrospondence between mom and the school and emails between us and the teachers. If she is not attendning school now, I would think that that would be considered truancy....even if she has been expelled. If I were you, I would look into if any charges could be filed against the mother for not having the daughter in school. Then if there is, file for custody. I'm not sure of the laws in your state, but it would be worth looking into. Best of luck to you.