I stumbled across this website today and figured this site was as good a place to start as any.

I am a 22 year old female, and have a sticky family situation. I have 2 young sisters, 15 and 13. The 15 year old just gave birth to a baby boy. They live in South Carolina, with both parents, and I currently live in Pennsylvania. About 2 years ago, both my mother and father were in jail and I had to bring both sisters to PA temporarily. I was unable to enroll them in school, and did not have money for a lawyer but somehow managed to go to court and obtain custody of them temporarily. (What a feat!) They have since returned to SC. Anyway, my mother is heavily into drugs and has been for years. She does not work, and on the 1st of every month she receives disability, cash benefits, and food stamps totaling roughly $1000 in cash and $300 in food stamps. She spends it (all of it) on drugs that very day. She has been doing this for years, and on top of it, she is a smooth talker, and very manipulative - she gets out of everything. In the past, the police have been called to the house and she has managed to slip away every time. On a few occasions, even turning them on my father because he owes back child support - so he ends up being the one being carted to jail. My father, who has his own problems as well, just stands in the background and does nothing, despite my frequent bugging him to get on his feet and man up. However, nothing gets done. My mother will put up a fight to the death before she lets my two sisters (and my sisters newborn child) out of her sight, because she now receives more money for the 3 of them, and more money means more drugs. It's not just drugs, she is abusive, but would have course deny that if it ever came to that point.

I have thought about getting my sister emancipated, but she would not be able to provide for herself and the child. I do have a job for her here, and she could stay with me - but I don't really know much about emancipation so I am unsure if that is an option, or if in order to get emancipated she has to provide for herself completely? So it brings me back to whether I should fight for custody of all 3 of them. I have a decent, secure, job with the commonwealth, and although it doesn't bring in as much money as I'd like it to, I could support them. There is not much other family support - And I just am not sure where to turn. I have thought about calling CYS, but I do not want them being split up, nor do I want my sister's baby being taken away as she is only 15 years old. I suppose I am looking for more of a sounding board, or just options than a direct answer. Anything will help.

Why did you let them go back if you had temp custody, the custody order would not change until the parents went back to court to change your existing court order.

To Fr_Chuck: I have so much to say I leave things out.

The judge granted me temporary custody on the terms that we be supervised by a CYS rep on a monthly basis. This was fine, but when my father was released from jail, he came to PA to take them back. Of course I would not have let them go without a fight, but I was only 20. My dad had made an effort and paid on his child support, the reason he was in jail in the first place, and had obtained steady employment. He spoke with the CYS rep, who when we returned to court recommended that my sisters be returned to the custody of my parents. The rep had spoken to my sisters who wanted to return to SC because they had missed their friends. They did not know any better. Now, they are a little older, they understand a bit more what type of person my mother is. And my father isn't doing anything again. He does not work either.