SistersHelp

I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right spot, or if it really belongs on this board at all. I'm just hoping that it might be helpful in the future if anyone else has the same experience my family is having.

My sister (30) is addicted to oxycontin, a prescription painkiller that was given to her for pain management. She has been misusing this medication and the last few times I saw her (before rehab) she was literally falling asleep in the middle of sentences, burning cigarette holes in her clothing and computer keyboard, and completely out of control. Oxycontin is not the only drug she is addicted to, and in fact I think she is addicted to many things as she has been willing to try whatever she could get her hands on. She has been in drug rehabilitation a few times since her teens but has never stayed. She has also been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Right now, she is in a rehabilitation centre again. My husband and I are taking care of her 11 year old daughter. She has been in this rehab centre since mid-June, so nearly a month. At this point she is again threatening to leave the centre and take her daughter. She claims she cannot handle life in the rehab centre (because she cannot afford cigarettes and has not completed enough time or steps in the centre to be permitted to take part time employment the way some of the girls there do) and she is going to leave and do an outpatient program instead.

There are several problems with this plan:
- she can get no reference to rent an apartment because she has been evicted from every place she has ever rented, or left thousands of dollars of damage upon move out
- she can get no reference to have utilities hooked up because she is in arrears on every bill
- she will have trouble getting a reference for employment because she has been fired from every job she has held (although in the past she has managed to get away with giving false references, having friends pose as previous employers on the phone)


But the biggest problem, of course, is that she is still unfit, in my opinion, to be a mother to her child. She is not doing what she needs to do to get better and leaving this rehabilitation program she is in is further evidence of her lack of intention to change. Her daughter missed 76 days of school last year, they were living in absolute squalor (they were evicted because the home was a health and fire hazard), and her daughter has irrational fears because of the fact her mother has lied to her perpetually about people being out to destroy them.

I am terrified of her taking her daughter back to that life now that we have finally managed to get her away from it.

Today we are taking the first step toward trying to get help for the child. We have an appointment to meet with a lawyer and find out whether there is any hope of having my sister's custody legally taken from her for as long (I hope forever - unless she changes) as possible.

I will plan to update here and maybe it can serve as a guide of what to do (or what not to do) for any others in this type of situation.

Don't worry about me... but please pray for the child.