aunt_putz
07-31-2003, 07:40 AM
A long true story...
Ok back in febuary my sister in law drops her daughter Jillian off at a neighbors house and said she would be back in a couple of hours. Well my mother in law gets a phone call the next day and the woman tells her that she is going to call DHS if someone doesn't come and pick Jillian up. Her mother whos name is Michelle never showed up. So My MIL (Cindy) picks her up and brings her to my house...I'm a stay at home mom and she works...logical choice. Meanwhile the weekend goes by and still no sign of Michelle. Finally Monday afternoon she calls and tells us that she doesn't want to be a mother anymore. She asks us if we will accept custody of Jillian. Of course we said yes. So meanwhile somebody calls Dhs and they land on my doorstop wondering what the heck is going on. They are releived that we want to take Jilly in and tell us the steps we have to go through to get custody. My husband heads off to the courthouse to get the paper work, we fill it out and wait and wait and wait for Michelle to fill out her part. We waited for about 3 weeks....we at this point have no idea where she is living nor do we have a phone number. She finally contacts us and she signs the paper work. Husband goes back to the courthouse paper work in hand....The clerk tells him that it cannot be filed because since Michelle doesn't know ( or isn't telling) who the father is she has to put an unknown father ad in the paper for a month. She says that she will get right on that. She then procedes to disappear again. The police show up at her parents house trying to find her, it turns out that she has 4 warrents out for her arrest all for class D theft. She also stole checks from her parents as well. The police say they have traced her to a bus station, she bought a ticket to New York City. That is the last anyone has seen or heard from her. So My husband and I are stuck. We have her daughter but nothing is legal. We cant file for abandonment, because in Maine if you leave a child with a family member its not abandonment. Luckily we were able to get her on medicare and some food stamps for her. She came hear with just the clothes on her back nothing else...no toys no nothing. She is also still in diapers. When we got her she was extremely malnurished. We were able to get her in to see her pediatrician and someone in there office switched my andher mothers name on her bill so I have been getting nasty phone calls from a collection agency trying to get me to pay for Michelles bill. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. My family can't afford a lawyer. Something has to be done soon because she will need to be in School next year and we can't legally enroll her... Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? Thank you for letting me vent!
Ok back in febuary my sister in law drops her daughter Jillian off at a neighbors house and said she would be back in a couple of hours. Well my mother in law gets a phone call the next day and the woman tells her that she is going to call DHS if someone doesn't come and pick Jillian up. Her mother whos name is Michelle never showed up. So My MIL (Cindy) picks her up and brings her to my house...I'm a stay at home mom and she works...logical choice. Meanwhile the weekend goes by and still no sign of Michelle. Finally Monday afternoon she calls and tells us that she doesn't want to be a mother anymore. She asks us if we will accept custody of Jillian. Of course we said yes. So meanwhile somebody calls Dhs and they land on my doorstop wondering what the heck is going on. They are releived that we want to take Jilly in and tell us the steps we have to go through to get custody. My husband heads off to the courthouse to get the paper work, we fill it out and wait and wait and wait for Michelle to fill out her part. We waited for about 3 weeks....we at this point have no idea where she is living nor do we have a phone number. She finally contacts us and she signs the paper work. Husband goes back to the courthouse paper work in hand....The clerk tells him that it cannot be filed because since Michelle doesn't know ( or isn't telling) who the father is she has to put an unknown father ad in the paper for a month. She says that she will get right on that. She then procedes to disappear again. The police show up at her parents house trying to find her, it turns out that she has 4 warrents out for her arrest all for class D theft. She also stole checks from her parents as well. The police say they have traced her to a bus station, she bought a ticket to New York City. That is the last anyone has seen or heard from her. So My husband and I are stuck. We have her daughter but nothing is legal. We cant file for abandonment, because in Maine if you leave a child with a family member its not abandonment. Luckily we were able to get her on medicare and some food stamps for her. She came hear with just the clothes on her back nothing else...no toys no nothing. She is also still in diapers. When we got her she was extremely malnurished. We were able to get her in to see her pediatrician and someone in there office switched my andher mothers name on her bill so I have been getting nasty phone calls from a collection agency trying to get me to pay for Michelles bill. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. My family can't afford a lawyer. Something has to be done soon because she will need to be in School next year and we can't legally enroll her... Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? Thank you for letting me vent!