Isn't it normal for a parent to want the best for their child, despite addiction? Shouldn't she want my husband to at least see that she CAN care for their child, by simply combing through her hair with a lice comb 3 times a week to keep them at bay. I read somewhere that addicts strive to be good parents, which I am sure is true for some, but neglect isn't striving to be a good parent. As for food, the neighbour feeds the kids because the cooker got broken when mum spaced out for a couple of hours with pans on the hob. Not quite sure how it broke, but that's the tale we've been told. So, yes, the children are fed, but by the neighbour. Before the cooker broke they were fed, but mainly pizza and chips (fries), or oven stuff. Mum doesn't eat much, and has never eaten with the kids. My stepdaughter has a ravenous appetite, and when here she doesn't stop eating. However, she doesn't seem malnourished, so we're not concerned on that score.
Our complaint isn't about mother, it's about Social Services and their lack of intervention, or lack of investigation. They have it within their power to insist that services are accessed to provide help and support for the family. We have asked them to assess what services are needed (i.e. Young Carers, Al-Ateen, counselling, one to one support for the children) and have asked them to try and instigate them because there is no way mum would accept help, or the suggestion of help, from my husband. We know my stepdaughter is stuck in the situation, but that's not her fault, and at the very least she should be getting support. We are here for her, of course, but she isn't in a position to even be able to call her dad for a chat should things get too much for her at home. There is no landline phone in the house, mum only has a mobile, and the mobile we bought for my stepdaughter cannot have credit on it because we've done that in the past and mum has used it all up. We have given my stepdaughter the number for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics because with her network she can call them free from her mobile, but she didn't want to input the number on her phone, for obvious reasons. It was written on a piece of paper for her. There is also no internet in the house, so we cannot communicate with my stepdaughter via email, and vice versa. Apparently mum has said she's going to get internet, but she's been saying that for 4 years, so we're not holding our breath. We bought my stepdaughter a laptop for her birthday, with a built in webcam, so if mum does get internet she will be able to take her laptop home, which would make communication easier. It's always been a problem, and even though my husband has 'regular, substantial phone contact' written into his Court Order, he can never get hold of his daughter. Her phone is usually switched off, or flat. He texts her mum to ask her to get their daughter to charge her phone or switch it on, but that can take days. If he calls mum's phone, she never, ever answers it, so that's pointless and frustrating. And, if and when he does actually manage to speak to his daughter, she barely speaks on the phone, just utters 'mmmm' and that's it. Sometimes though, if she's upstairs or at the neighbours, she's as chatty as she is when she's with us.
Sorry, went a bit off track there!! What I'm trying to say is that we are trying our very best to help this child, but it's like banging our heads against a brick wall.