[aubidubi]

After obtaining a restraining order, hearings spanning six months, and $30,000 I was emancipated from both parents at 16. Around the same time, my step-father who has been and continues to be separated from my mother, petitioned to have my younger brother’s custody reevaluated. He is twelve years my junior and is currently seven. Custody went from my grandparents, to my aunt, to a foster care family (temporarily), and eventually back to my mother and step father.
My mother lost custody of me in 2005, years before my emancipation due to heavy drug use (meth or speed are the drugs of choice) and neglect. When I filed for emancipation, she had been abusing prescription ADD medication which drove her into a mental state that continues to this day. There were times in which the entire house was covered in food that she had smeared into the carpet and onto the walls, while our refrigerator and party lay barren. She also talked to herself repeatedly, reported hearing voices etc. I have hours upon hours of videos (which I used against her in court) where she is interrogating me about everything from witchcraft, to the circumstances surrounding her birth (how would I know?), and the connections between my French flashcards and her back pain.
Before, my mother was the head special education counselor for our home district, a job that she lost due to erratic behavior related to drug use. She is extremely well educated, and was working on a PHD is psychiatry when she began using again. Due to her background, no matter what doctor we send her to, she convinces them that she’s cognitive and self-aware, when in reality, she’s manipulating the system. When she lost her job I decided to file for emancipation, as she was our only source of income and had stopped supporting my brother and I. Since then she has had no job, refuses to get a job, and claims that my grandparents and I (though ONLY trying to help her) are conspiring against her, and poisoning the job market. Since my emancipation, she has poisoned her mind with lies about us. There is absolutely no talking, let alone reasoning with her.
She lives in a trailer, which had over $10,000 of renovations, but since has been completely pulled apart and gutted by my mother, who continues to abuse ADD medication. She is not providing for my brother, and she barely takes him to school. They don’t have cooking supplies because my mother has taken apart the stove several times, and they don’t have water because my smashed the porcelain bathtub and sink. These are things that have been replaced repeatedly, at the expense of my grandparents. She wants my grandparents to give her money so that she can “go.” She will not work with us to calculate financial plans, or help her “go,” which is why we haven’t given her the money to do so. We are afraid she will take Seth and continue to neglect him, without any support from us.
I am extremely worried about his situation, as she has even stopped taking him to school. CPS has been by their trailer multiple times this year alone, but always leave without solving any problems. My brother’s father is a drug user as well, and has failed multiple drug tests that both my mother and step-father are required to take as they’re still in a transitionary period with CPS. When Seth was in his custody, he was sleeping at a different family member’s home every night and showed up dirty or underfed to school.
We don’t know what to do at this point. She doesn’t cooperate with any of us, claims that we’re trying to hurt her and that we rearrange things in her trailer, even though my grandparents live three hours away. There is absolutely no compromising on anything and she won’t allow us to help her in creating a plan to get off drugs, or at least in a situation where they can live comfortably. She is completely illogical in every way and we fear the only option is to gain custody. Having spent over $50,000, my grandparents who are both retired, have spent most of their life savings trying to help our situation. Any advice or information you can supply would be greatly appreciated.

Nueces County, Texas.

[aubidubi]

I wrote this three months ago, hoping to post it to a few different websites for help... So far, this is the only one I've found that doesn't ask for some kind of monetary compensation. My brother is six. He's been shuffled around his whole life. I feel partly responsible, considering my mother didn't start neglecting Seth until she had suffered emotionally, due to my emancipation. I want to make sure he has a chance at a quality life.
My grandmother has taken the only legal action she knows how (can afford) by acquiring court orders to have my mother mentally evaluated for 48 hours. She did this because my mother hasn't been answering phone calls, can rarely be caught at her home, and refuses to take my brother to school because she thinks they're conspiring against her...

SOS

[Victoria'smom]

I believe the family courts have someone you can talk to for a smaller fee. If you are stable I'd look into you taking custody.