So, generally I think airing your family secrets via the internet is in poor taste, but honestly you guys seem to be pretty knowledgeable about some situations, so I'm asking for a little advice on a family situation with my sister and niece and nephew. I'm going to try and explain this thoroughly, but also not make it a book, so please ask me if I need to clarify. Also, if I am just sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong with my sister, I can handle someone calling me out on that.
So my sister has two kids, ages 4 and 5 who have two different dads. She is in a relationship still with her youngest's father. Daddy no. 1 is not in the picture IMO mostly because she pushed him away, and has moved several times without giving him her contact info. Obviously, that guy is not super interested in being involved, because the first few times she fell off the radar he would contact me, or my parents or my other siblings to see what was up, but that has stopped now, and nobody has any contact with him. My sister didn't finish high school, and hasn't had a steady job at any period in her life. She has mostly bounced around in relationships with guys who supported her somewhat. So anyway, she is still in a relationship with daddy no. 2 and she doesn't work, and he has a hard time keeping steady employment, so they have a very hard time maintaining a place to live.
They have moved 10 times in two years and have been evicted 8 of those times. His parents will only let him and the youngest kid stay there, because he and my sister aren't married, and the oldest child isn't technically his. I think that is stupid, but whatever. My mother lives in an apartment, and my sister's boyfriend isn't allowed on the property because they ended up being evicted from an apartment there and sister's boyfriend punched the manager of the apartment complex (who is a lady in her 60's) resulting in him having a restraining order against him. My father and step mother have let them stay with them from time to time, but he has also threatened my father several times, so my dad is obviously not to keen on him staying there, but always welcomes my sister and the kids at times they are between places to live. Last time they were in a situation my sister and the kids did stay there, and my dad told her she needed to find a job, and let her use one of their cars and gave her a cell phone and whatnot. It turned out my sister would say she was job hunting, but she would end up going to meet up with the bf, who at the time was staying with his parents.
Anyway, as of lately, her boyfriend found a job doing general security/maintenance at an extended stay motel type of place, and a room there was included as part of his income. And when I say room, I mean a typical hotel room. One room, two double beds, a bathroom and a microwave/mini fridge. They had been there since November.
Well, on Friday, I took the kids out because Saturday was my nephew's birthday. So I picked them up in the morning and dropped them off at about 6 that night. Nothing really seemed off when my FI and I dropped the kids off, but they did kind of rush us out. We had plans to get together today to have cupcakes, but when I showed up this morning, the manager of the motel told me the bf had been fired Friday night and they moved out that night. I left and called my dad, who said my sister had called Friday night to borrow money, which he said he would give them, but he hadn't heard from them since. They didn't have any phones except for a company cell phone, and the one in the motel room. I think it is odd they never followed up with my dad about the money.
Anyway, I am literally worried sick right now, but also super mad that my sister keeps doing this to her children. Can I do anything legally to stop this from happening all the time? I feel like my family has exhausted trying to help them, and at this point I just want my niece and nephew out of this situation. Can I contact CPS? Do they do anything if it isn't an abuse case? Can I somehow file for custody or to be a foster parent of them, even though there is no way my sister would agree to it? To me, I feel like their unstable lifestyle is completely unsuitable for the kids, but is it legally unsuitable? Do any of you have any advice on what I can or should do about any of this?
I just love those kids so much and it breaks my heart to see them have to go through so much when they are so young. So even if I sound judgy it is just out of concern for them.
