Another rough start to the day. I spoke to the family justice counsellor on the phone and basically she said she couldn't do anything for me. She says their service is designed to mediate custody arrangements between biological parents (or grandparents) and that with an open file at Social Services they won't touch it. She said call Social Services.
So I called them again and they told me that they can't help either. They only deal with immediate danger and since my niece is not in immediate danger (because she's living here) there's no way they can do anything. Rather than prevent any further harm to this child they want to wait until she's already being hurt even more.
I'm so frustrated that this is the way the system works. I told the social worker that my sister passes out in bed on a regular basis with burning cigarettes in her hands, that I'm afraid she will burn herself and my niece to death in their bed (they share a bed.. fill in rant here), and asked if we have to wait for that to happen, for them to be on fire before they'll come and do something? She said yes.
So now what?