[stevenstwin]

Our 15 year old foster son still has fairly free access to his bio dad. He can see him unsupervised at his dad's own home once or twice a week, for no more than 3 hours per time. There are very few restrictions, althought they COULD cut off all contact if they wished. The TPR basically said he could have access IF he was following his case plan- they know he never will, so they're pretty sure he'll never see the two little ones again. But with A., since he is a teenager and desperately wants that contact, they are being liberal. So what is the nutty part? They DON'T have a big problem with them driving around town in dad's car. They tell me its okay, as long as A. lets me know where they are going. Uh....but dad is an alcoholic - the CW even saw him downtown a few days ago so drunk he could barely walk. Does anyone see a problem with him DRIVING?? The answer I got was "A's old enough to tell if he's drunk - tell him not to get in a car with him if he's been drinking." They give SO much latitude to teens in care, because they figure they'll just go awol and do what they want anyway, but it just doesn't seem right at all to me!

[ca-bigsister]

I would write down the meeting as I understood it and ask them to clarify the question of why can a parent with alcohol issues drive around a minor.

My FD was originally taken away from her biomom because biomom came inebriated to school to pick her up. School would not release FD to inebriated biomom and called DCFS. That is completely outrageous for a CW to see a parent drunk one day and to allow a parent to drive a child. I'd write it down and ask the cw to review so that you can know who to sue for responsibility if there's an accident and FS needs medical care for the rest of his life.

[straightblues]

Your stories continue to amaze me. I wouldn't let my son's drive with a drunk who is unsupervised. Your 15 year old should be put in the position to supervise his own father.

[stevenstwin]

Originally Posted by straightblues

Your stories continue to amaze me. I wouldn't let my son's drive with a drunk who is unsupervised. Your 15 year old should be put in the position to supervise his own father.

well (shhh, don't tell anyone!) I figured HE doesn't know what they told me - so *I* told him that he absolutely, positively may not go anywhere with his dad without prior permission and arranged transportation. He, or course, argued - but WILL obey. Especailly since he thinks (and I didn't tell him this) that he'll lose his visitation rights if he breaks any of the rules. Fortunately for me, he is very willing to follow my directions, so I don't plan to open the door on this nuttiness.