Dana; While this may sound harsh, but in the end it really isn't. You have no responsibility to support that mother's social habits by providing child care. You are not doing her a favor by giving in to her begging either. Substance abusers will say anything to get their way, and truthfulness is nowhere to be found.
I would hope you do not have a co-dependacy problem that will even cause the slightest twinge of guilt by turning her down flat. You are not helping her, you are not helping her kids. In fact by taking on the burden you are actually shielding her from the consequences of her choices. By refusing, you will force her to make better choices, or at the very least come up on the Child Protective Services radar screen. Sometimes just the threat by them to take away the children and placing them in foster care, is enough to make good things happen, but if in the end that is what needs to be done, it will be in the children's best interests, horrible as that may sound. Leaving them in that situation is what laws are supposed to prevent. This is not to day that you don't care, because you obviously do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
