Most important first: RatWoman is not having the baby yet. She was still having the Braxton Hicks contractions after court, so we zoomed over to the OB/GYN. She did a quick exam and said “nope, not even close yet.” That’s good, because her due date is still six weeks away. Hopefully she’ll have a better night tonight.
Now, as to the shitstorm: fucking lawyers. Basically they kicked the can down the road a couple of months. Mom is out of the inpatient mental health program, and going to an outpatient program five mornings a week. She can have all the supervised visits she wants, but she does not get unsupervised time with the kids until CPS signs off, which they won’t do until she has six months clean on the outside and stays on her meds. RatWoman and I retain “temporary permanent guardianship” until the next court hearing in mid-October. My eldest daughter is the backup in case there’s a problem.
Our own plans were discussed, but mom’s lawyer and the mediator did not believe that we really plan to move to Europe this winter, so the longer-term plan was not addressed at all. They simply refused to discuss it, and the family court judge said we’d address that at the next hearing.
Mom declined our offer to set her up with housing here on the ranch. She has a Section 8 voucher so her short-term plan is to look for suitable housing for her and the kids.
During the mediation, RatWoman went off on our lawyer, who took it upon himself to change our own stated goals during the hearing. Basically he volunteered us to house mom in our house, and supervise her directly, which was absolutely not an acceptable option. Anyway, RatWoman ripped him a new one. I was so proud of her.
I’ll probably post some more tomorrow, but right now, I’m exhausted. Half an hour until the last two kids are in bed, and I’m way past ready for a pint and a bowl.
It has been a very long day.
