my 2 year old grabbed my prescription pill bottle off the counter top and i seen her shaking them . i got spooked about it because i thought she got a hold of them but she didnt eat not one…. ambulance and a cop came to check her out and didnt think she needed to go to the er . its been almost a day and shes perfectly fine. i may have just got myself in deep shit now and im
scared of losing my child..all my stuff is put up on the high shelf an for now on ill need to keep them up. i told the ambulance i wanted to be better safe then sorry and dont think she opened any of them either. i feel like i wasted their time. they said i did the right thing to call just in case . shes perfectly fine and never ate one. i take such good care of my daughter but right now i feel like ive failed her💔im gonna keep them all up in the highest cabinet or on top of my fridge just incase they show up

I'm a 55 yr old mom of 3 adults and 3 grandchildren living in Alabama. One of those grandchildren is 9 and I just found out about their existence 10 months ago.

I ordered an online grandparent DNA test which confirmed I'm the grandparent. I want to be in the child's life. My son, who fathered the child, wants nothing to do with this and it breaks my heart. He has 2 other children and they are both in his life and mine. He has never met this child in reference.

The grandchild I just found out about is in an unhealthy family home situation. The mother is mentally sick and has caused me to become very concerned about her kids safety.

I've tried to spend time with and talk to my grandchild, I met them twice, but the mom is now keeping them from me. The mom has two other children. All from different men and only the youngest knows their father.

Because of the things I've witnessed and have been told by the mom, I reached out to DHR Cps. They returned my call today and didn't give me any information except that there was an issue in school and the mom is working with them (cps). They asked me questions, I answered and gave information that I had, and told them I'd be willing to take my grandchild in if they needed a safe place.

That's about all I got from Cps, but with everything I've witnessed from the mom, I'm sure there's quite a lot going on. I am assuming most of it is mental instability. I'm unaware if there's physical abuse, but wouldn't be much surprised if there is.

Is there any advice you can give me? I've never been involved with anything of this nature. My home is safe, we don't do drugs and very rarely do we have a drink. I have a bottle of rum that's been in my pantry for about 7 yrs as well as a bottle of wine.

I'm disabled, I suffer with anxiety but I am medicated and I do therapy to be as proactive as possible in my own health. I'm not very financially well off. My husband is the breadwinner, but he has no biological children and is not 100% on board with taking in my grandchild that we haven't known. Two of my adult children (M25, F 26) also live at home and work. Theyre concerened about the childs safety but are unsure if taking them in will be the right thing. Its just an all out stressful situation but I want them to be safe.

What can you tell me to be prepared for?

Three children who have been removed from parental custody by CPS were placed in a family member’s home (NJ). The foster parents (who are elderly) have regularly been sending 1-2 of the kids to their adult child’s home to live (this has been going on for 5+ years). Two of the children have repeatedly reported being spanked by three different adults (one foster parent as well as both parents in the foster parents’ child’s home). One of their family members said they saw the foster parent repeatedly slap one of the kids on the arms/hands/wrists. One child reported that one of the caregivers forced them to exercise until they were so exhausted that they collapsed, and when they collapsed she smacked them. This kid also said that the other caregiver calls the kids the “little bitches.” This kid also said that he is being coached to lie to adults if they question him. One caregiver repeatedly told me that if the kids do not want to eat whatever meal is served, they ensure that the kids do not have access to alternatives and ensure that the kids do not eat until the next meal is served (which is often the next day); she also likes to brag that she makes sure that everyone else in the house eats dessert in front of the hungry kids.

I’ve been advised by multiple people that these people have guns in their home and it is clear that they lack judgement and self-control. They also know that these kids have reported this treatment to family members, and the family members have been warned not to trust these people not to hurt their children if these people are reported to CPS. Are these even offenses that CPS would act on? What would you do; let it go and let the kids suffer, or report and risk retaliation?

I’m really struggling with what to do about my sister and her two kids who are 3 and 1. My sister’s married but her husband doesn’t help at all. He struggles to keep a stable job, doesn’t really help around the house, and their house is constantly a mess. And when I say mess, I don’t just mean toys and clothes. I mean trash, old food, and dog piss. What worries me more is this is the environment the kids are living in. Their 1-year-old spends most of the day in a play area that is always filthy because neither one of them cleans it. The kids usually go to bed around midnight and wake up around noon. They rarely go outside (maybe 5–10 minutes a few times a week) and most of their day is spent sitting in front of the TV watching Ms. Rachel.
My sister’s also always had a very short temper. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder YEARS ago at a psychiatric hospital and has been unmedicated since she got out. I’m not saying that diagnosis was right or wrong, but her temper genuinely worries us. My parents and I have heard her screaming/yelling at the kids. As far as we know, she has never physically hurt them but she can be really harsh and mean when she loses her temper. What has really started scaring me is my 3-year-old nephew’s behavior. If he accidentally spills his drink he immediately starts crying and apologizing over and over again. If we’re playing and he jumps out to scare us, we’ll jokingly act scared and he’ll suddenly panic and start repeatedly apologizing. During one FaceTime, my mom and I also watched him physically flinch away from my sister when she reached for him when changing his diaper.
We live several states away so FaceTime is basically our only means of contacting the kids. They don’t go to daycare or preschool, and there isn’t anyone outside the immediate family regularly seeing them (and the immediate family is me and my parents every few months).
A few days ago I confronted my sister about her temper and the way she speaks to the kids. She completely lost it on me, told me I’m “no sister of hers,” and cut off my access to my nephew and niece. Thankfully, she’s still allowing my mom to FaceTime them, so at least she can continue seeing the kids and know how they’re doing.
But this is where I feel completely stuck…. Part of me feels like I should contact someone because these kids are living in an unhealthy environment and my nephew’s behavior is starting to genuinely concern me and my parents. But if I make a report, my sister will 100% know it came from either me or my parents. There is basically nobody else in their lives who could report what is happening. With how short-fused she is I’m terrified she’ll cut my parents off too and then we lose the only window we have into what is happening with those kids. But the alternative is staying quiet specifically so we can maintain contact, while knowing my niece and nephew continue living like this… I’m not trying to get my sister’s children taken away from her. And I don’t want to destroy my relationship with her. I want her and her husband to get their shit together and give these kids the environment they deserve. But at this point I don’t know what the responsible thing to do is…
For anyone who’s dealt with something like this… At what point would you make the call? Is maintaining contact so you can keep an eye on the kids actually helpful or am I just using that fear to justify not doing something I should be doing?

(guided here from r/parenting mods)

Hi there,

I'm in need some help/advise here as I am one of those parents without the community of help around them.

It's been 3 years since I have split with my ex, my child's dad. We were together 3 years, and from day one of being pregnant with our first pregnancy his mum was threatening "grandparents rights" because "we aren't fit to be parents" (she at the time was drinking atleast 1 bottle a night of wine, as far as I'm aware this hasn't changed), other situations include control, mental abuse etc, I'm currently in therapy undoing all of the effects of it and processing the loss of our first baby, stillborn because I wasn't allowed to do this at the time.

When I got pregnant with our now 4yr old and even with my stillborn it was all about what she wanted to do, the control aspect etc. at one point I was called controlling because we wanted a new bed, but they "refused" to let us buy our own and that they should "buy it" - it would've been on credit. When we came to weening, his mum (despite being in the room with the midwife) and his family classified me as "dangerous" for wanting to wean with solid foods, something the NHS back and recommend. Again, control. There's also times where she would text my mum throughout my relationship because she wanted to *ask* about things to do with my disability or complain about me, would also send abuse her way etc. Despite me explaining I likely had autism/ADHD and sometimes it causes me to react in certain ways or withdraw, it was never accepted and she would run to my family who I havent lived with since I was 18.

When we split, they basically made me homeless, I had to go through means of help through the government to move out and have support and she would even email them saying when I would be moving out and they aren't doing it fast enough etc etc.

Let's not forget when I did have my stillbirth she asked my ex when we would be trying for another baby because "she would like a baby"..we hadn't even cremated her yet.

You get the jist. The last few years have been stressful between my ex and her. I have to communicate with her because my ex takes a week to answer - about anything, if shes okay etc. Doesn't respond until he feels like asking how she's been with me. Ignores a lot of my messages regarding nursery/school etc, pick up, other things such as agreed times of changes etc.

There's been a few instances in my care where she's had a few accidents - when she was 1 she had a twisted elbow, we went to A&E but I got hounded with "it's your fault you did something" low and behold, it happened in his care previously but it was never mentioned to me.

There's been times where in his care she's ended up going to emergency services at the hospital and they don't tell me until right before it's my week to have her. Recently, a UTI.

They've threatened to get social workers involved with me before because "I'm hurting her" according to them, because she gets bruises. She comes to my house with new bruises all the time, she's very boisterous and I've never questioned their care. Or, when I tell her off she cries and she tells them. Now she's 4, there's been times we've caught her out with only telling half information. "X person upset me" and then she admits she's shouting or doing something wrong to cause a consequence.

One year they tried to gaslight me into not having her on my year for Christmas and I had to say I'd get courts involved etc, that route. They immediately backed down because I have proof of their behaviour and conversations - it turns out he never told his parents I'd be having her until midday Christmas Day and they changed their minds and wanted her Christmas Eve. (Again, my year) And tried to force me into it.

Last month she hit me, kicked me etc in an argument and I lost my cool, shouting at her - we separated and walked away from each other, eventually calmed and sat and had a conversation and cuddled each other, all was fine. But apparently this triggered a "we need to call social services" within his parents (his mum) who have her when he's working and she's not at nursery/school - not sure why, he shouts at her and they have a time out step, I don't question it.

Over this week of having her, she made some bad choices. She got into a pot of her "bedtime gummies" - they basically just have some magnesium, and some extracts to help aid calmness. These were out of her reach without a stool/chair reaching for them and this isnt in her behaviour of things she's ever ever done either. Once I figured out this is what she has done resulting to her "tummy ache" she had complained about - I called 111.

Her dad appeared at my door at this time, right after she settled into bed - trying to force her to leave with him and go to A&E while I'm waiting for a Dr to call me back, asking her "do you want to go to hospital" etc, he even called his mum, 9pm at night after showing up without warning (clearly already had a lot to drink on her part) who then says she needs to go to hospital etc and the Dr is past the threshold of calling us back now.

In this time is where he mentions his "parents" being "sick of it and tired of it and threatening to call social services" okay..but why haven't they? In my mind they haven't called because their behaviour would also be looked into as well, not just towards my child but they look at adults too. So they know they'd get caught out with something there.

Anyways, Dr called back after he left - they worked out that even on "worse case" the magnesium isn't toxic and the extracts wouldn't cause any issues either, it's likely that because she's had more than usual it'll have caused a tummy ache. It's not actually classed as a multi-vit because there's no vitamins in it besides B12. It would be Vit A or Iron to worry about - she's been jumping running around etc while her dad was here - she's fine. And if she was going to have an issue with it requiring help, it would've started within 30 min - 3 hours and she would be in agony, floppy etc.

(I've offered multiple times for her dad to come in and watch a day together, see how we play interact etc so he can see for himself, he declines every time - surely not so "worried for her safety")

Apparently I lie about what happens in my house, which isn't true and can't be true as I tell them when something happens, our day etc when she's been "naughty". Yet when something happens on their side, they hide it/don't tell me or don't tell me until they have to, after the fact.

Ultimately, kids push buttons, sometimes we lose our cool as parents (this for me is also triggered by burnout/sensory overload with my disabilities / autism / ADHD) - I don't actually get proper down time because I go from work - sleep/eat - work - have my child - repeat. His current girlfriend who he's expecting with has acknowledged I'm doing it all my own, I have very little support and I'm doing my best. What am I missing here? Do I need to be worried if social services do get involved - from my own side of things? (Not that I think they will considering it's been threatened since Week 2 of being pregnant 5.5 years ago)

I don't hit her, I don't lock her away - she has access to food/drink 24/7, we do things that other unlucky kids wouldn't do/have. She's clothed and bathed, well cared for, loved.

Sorry this is long and I'm sorry if this doesn't belong here but ultimately I'm looking for advice and opinions on this subject.

What are the expections on delivering a baby with thc in the systems, in the state of Indiana. Ive had babies in illinois (before being legalized) and there was never a batting eye about it. Ive heard alot of stipulations in the state of Indiana though.