Craziness
It’s been a strange few days. Over the last two days we’ve had to deal with my friend whos two girls I babysit. Monday, she had the police show up at her door because “someone” called in a complaint. When the police arrived to do an inspection, they found nothing to support the complaint. And she was told that it would hurt the credibility of the caller. Only while they were interviewing the two older girls, (her oldest daughter was visiting for the summer from spokane) the grandmother of the youngest half sibling came and convinced the police to let her take the two girls, she promptly took them to the airport and sent them to their dad’s in spokane. The problem? My friend had no idea what happened to her girls. They were taken to the airport without her permission or knowledge. The older daughter had been scheduled to return to her dad the next day and the dad had called just that morning to say that he wanted the younger daughter to come for the holiday weekend. Which my friend said was no problem. It took 12 hours to discover where the girls were. And as far as I know, my friend still hasn’t had any contact with her girls. The police filled out a report about what’s happened and my friend is of the opinion that dad pulled this stunt to take his daughters. An opinion the officer filling the report seemed to share, although he wouldn’t confirm anything.
The grandmother to the youngest girl has not had the best relationship with my friend. She has tried causing trouble for my friend for a few years now. She even tried to get me to spy on my friend for her. She told me all this crap that I knew wasn’t true and then had the gall to tell me that if I told my friend that grandma and I had talked, my friend would be mad at me for it. (yeah, riiiiiiight)
Grandma has been spying on my friend for awhile now, she has been making enough noise as if she’s trying to figure a way to get custody of her grandaughter. I can ONLY imagine what crap she may have been feeding the older girls dad, who already isn’t on speaking terms with my friend anyway. They have not got along in years, but have always been just barely civil to accomplish the girls visiting their other parent.
So my friend has contacted a lawyer, preparing for a possible custody battle if dad doesn’t return the younger daughter in time for school. When dad had called saying that the younger daughter would be visiting this weekend, he convienantly didn’t have the itenerary handy so he could give her the return flight information. As there has never been a problem before, it didn’t worry my friend. She’s worried now. My friend has had to struggle and work and struggle against all comers to make life work since the dad of her youngest decided he needed his “freedom” and took off. An act that grandma looks the other way on, instead blaming my friend for unfit parenting. (rolls eyes)
I’ve been the babysitter for the two youngest girls for six years now. They are like nieces to me at this point. And I have sat and watched this crap for four years now. At least this time, with the police involved, my friend now has reports that she can back up her position with. Finally the last straw has been laid down and she can finally act to do something about the harrassment she’s had to deal with. It’s not going to be easy…but I know my friend can do it.
