Q: Child abandoned by mother, should we worry about her coming back?
My boyfriend has had his daughter full time since she was born, he and his ex lived in an apartment in Nevada at the start and tried living life the "normal" way. Soon after (about 4 months after birth) the bio-mom started partying and not being responsible. She has a lengthy history of drug abuse and couch surfing. She has not seen her daughter regularly since she was 3.
His parents established guardianship over his daughter a few years ago to protect her in case things went south legally.
1 year ago my BF and his parents moved to Michigan and things are going smoothly.
The bio-mom has not even bothered to contact her daughter in almost 2 years. Has not seen her in almost 4 and cannot stay out of jail or hold a respectable job. (She is a known stripper and drug dealer and has no permanent address, diploma/GED or license.)
Her rights have not been terminated legally.
The daughter does not remember her.
Should we worry about her trying to take her back? When can we rest easy?
A: One question that needs to be addressed is why does your boyfriend's parents have guardianship. That aside, ex-girlfriend could not just show up and take the child. She could, of course, reenter the picture. But given the amount of time that's passed, and the other issues going on with her, I would think she'd have a very long road ahead to anything approaching joint custody.
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