Hello, my fellow Escapists. I apologize for the non-informative title, but it was the best thing I could come up with. Anyways, let's start with a bit of backstory.
Growing up, my nephew, who is one year older than me, was one of my best friends. We hung out together quite a bit and always enjoyed each others' company. His actual dad left when he was a baby, leaving my older sister to parent him alone until she met another man. This guy was awesome. Everyone in the family loved him and he ended up fathering my niece. As usual, times were good. A few years later, however, tragedy struck when he passed away in an accident at his work. My sister and her kids were devastated. About six years ago, she met somebody else and married him. This is where the problems began. It seemed like they were constantly spoiling my niece while leaving my nephew out in the cold. They were quite hard on him, especially when he entered his teenage years. He eventually rebelled against his mother and stepfather and began doing drugs. He was expelled from school on drug possession charges and was, of course, immensely punished. This was about three years ago. Since then, he's been arrested four more times, each time receiving more and more ire from his parents, who now have all but abandoned him. He's currently in a detention home serving a program that will gradually allow him more freedom before releasing him. Part of this program involves him having a few weekends of home visits. The thing is, his parents refuse to accept him back in their house and he refuses to go back to them as well. My mother, who is his grandmother, eventually went before my nephew's parole officer and asked about receiving custody of him so that he would have somewhere to go for the home visits. He said it would be acceptable and after attending my nephew's court hearing for the most recent charge, my mom now has legal custody over him. As I live alone with my mom, it's going to have massive repercussions on us. Our main worry is the fact that she works 40 hours a week third shift and is going to be starting a rigorous nursing program at the local college soon. I doubt that she will be able to do both and keep an eye on a juvenile delinquent. She can't quit work, though, since it's the only income we have to pay house payments and what not. I tried bringing up the option to quit school and switch to another shift, but she doubts she could get a solid 40 hour schedule at any other position where she works. So we have no idea what to do. Should we trust him to make right choices with little to no supervision or should my mom find some way to adjust her school and work schedule to be able to spend more time with him?
Sorry about the wall of text, and I give a massive thank you to anyone who read this post.
Growing up, my nephew, who is one year older than me, was one of my best friends. We hung out together quite a bit and always enjoyed each others' company. His actual dad left when he was a baby, leaving my older sister to parent him alone until she met another man. This guy was awesome. Everyone in the family loved him and he ended up fathering my niece. As usual, times were good. A few years later, however, tragedy struck when he passed away in an accident at his work. My sister and her kids were devastated. About six years ago, she met somebody else and married him. This is where the problems began. It seemed like they were constantly spoiling my niece while leaving my nephew out in the cold. They were quite hard on him, especially when he entered his teenage years. He eventually rebelled against his mother and stepfather and began doing drugs. He was expelled from school on drug possession charges and was, of course, immensely punished. This was about three years ago. Since then, he's been arrested four more times, each time receiving more and more ire from his parents, who now have all but abandoned him. He's currently in a detention home serving a program that will gradually allow him more freedom before releasing him. Part of this program involves him having a few weekends of home visits. The thing is, his parents refuse to accept him back in their house and he refuses to go back to them as well. My mother, who is his grandmother, eventually went before my nephew's parole officer and asked about receiving custody of him so that he would have somewhere to go for the home visits. He said it would be acceptable and after attending my nephew's court hearing for the most recent charge, my mom now has legal custody over him. As I live alone with my mom, it's going to have massive repercussions on us. Our main worry is the fact that she works 40 hours a week third shift and is going to be starting a rigorous nursing program at the local college soon. I doubt that she will be able to do both and keep an eye on a juvenile delinquent. She can't quit work, though, since it's the only income we have to pay house payments and what not. I tried bringing up the option to quit school and switch to another shift, but she doubts she could get a solid 40 hour schedule at any other position where she works. So we have no idea what to do. Should we trust him to make right choices with little to no supervision or should my mom find some way to adjust her school and work schedule to be able to spend more time with him?
Sorry about the wall of text, and I give a massive thank you to anyone who read this post.
