Please take the time to read this and help me. It would mean soo much to me. Okay, so here are the details. I am thirteen years old and I live in Washington with my mother and my step dad. My dad lives about an hour away and I get to see him every other weekend. I have always had a better relationship with my dad, and ever since I was 7, I have wanted to live with him. Me and my dad just have personalities that get along better. I have confronted my mom about it a few times, but the answer is a definite no. She doesn’t even want to talk about it. She says that its impossible and easier for me here even though it could work out just fine over there. I know that judges take into consideration about how a child feels about their parents and things, and this is how I feel: Both my mom and my step dad are confusing people. They never encourage me, and they always find something to nag on me about and get angry about. They tell me when I get angry that I should tell them to encourage me and things, and I have! But I shouldn’t have to remind my parents to be my parents. That’s really hard. I don’t have to remind my dad, he’s proud of me no matter what. I am not exaggerating. Especially lately I have been trying to get on my parents good side, but they just seem resistant. One moment they will be nice to me and I will think, “Oh, things are going great,” but moments later I will try to talk to them and they will get mad at me for no reason. Heres an example of what I mean, this actually happened: A couple days ago, I felt nauseous and asked my parents if I could stay home from school. My step dad stepped into my conversation and started (not yelling, but raising his voice, my parents make sure I always know the difference) yelling at me about all of the things in school I don’t get done and just compeletely putting me down (Such as “You are such a procrastinator,” and “You never get your work done,” etc.) until I was on the ground balling (sobbing). My mom was standing there and watching the whole thing and didn’t say a thing! And other time, I accidentally slept in after my mom told me to wake up, and when I came downstairs she was literally YELLING (Yes, yelling) at me about it, and I was pretty scared! On top of the way I feel they treat me, my mom has an alcohol problem. She went into detox a couple of years a go and starting over the summer, she started drinking again. She would lie to me about it and swear at me when I confronted her about it, and come up with excuses. I thought she hit rock bottom and was finally recovering. She hadn’t been drinking for one and a half months, and she was on the right track. Then, one day, her best friends dad died. Their family was going through alot too, and she was depressed, and I could tell she had been drinking the day it happened. I didnt confront her but I found out later she had told my step dad, who had in turn told her to DRIVE to her mom’s house to get away! She had even more bottles there, and she drank more there. It was really hard to see my grandmother baby my mom like that, have to take her keys away, drive her home, and then watch my mom stumble and trip all the way up the stairs because she was so drunk. After that, she started going to meetings. I thought she, (and she convinced me) had been depressed and thats why she did it, and I was proud she was going to meetings. I believed her when she promised she would quit, but I came home from school three days ago, and noticed instantly, that she was drunk, and found where she had hid the bottles. I then found the keys to the garage (which are in the house, and my mom is a stay at home mom) and unlocked the garage, and my step dad had more alcohol in there! It would have been too easy for her to just grab the keys and walk in there. He knows if she saw it she would most likely drink it! He keeps telling me he’s trying but I have seen no effort. I want nothing to do with them anymore, they have ruined so much of my childhood, and since that night I have been staying at my grandmothers. I haven’t talked to them since. They have told my grand mother they are bringing my mother back to detox again, but I truely, honestly do not believe them at all. I know alot of parents drink, but my mom is a tiny woman, and one can will effect her greatly. But she doesn’t drink beer, she drinks the really strong stuff, like chardonay and things. She gets really, really stupid when she is drunk and stumbles everywhere and it’s terrifying to see. I have so many terrible memories of a child, like 6 and 7, seeing her drink, and I don’t want to ever see that again. Not only does she drink, but she will drink and drive. Its scary knowing that my mom, would drive me somewhere during the middle of the night, when I would only really little, and become so disoriented that she would have to call someone to come get her. Her mother has taken her keys away from her so many times, and talked to her so many times, but no one can get through, a
