Alcoholic parents

[Unregistered]

I'm 15 and both my parents are alcoholics. My mother doesn't work, drive or anything. She just sits home and drinks all day from 8am. Never gets out. My dad used to work but recently is taking a lot of time off. He used to only drink very heavily on weekends but now he does almost every night. He will drive after 15-20 beers with my sister in the car. He gets very violent too. My mom always says how he beats her up when he gets drunk. To help get away from this I go to my grandmas a city away (where I went to school and grew up) for most of the day during the week and spend the night there sometimes but my parents get pissed that I do that. (I just started getting homeschooled this year.) is there any law allowing me and my sister to live with my grandma?

[ccsmod3]

Re: Alcoholic parents

Hello there,

Thanks for reaching out on our forum. It sounds like you’re dealing with a lot right now between your parent’s alcoholism and your father’s violence. Please know neither you nor your sister deserve to be abused or mistreated in any way and we’re sorry your father’s drinking causes him to get violent. If you think it would help to talk to other young people dealing with alcoholism in their family, there is Alateen and they have chat meetings as well as in person meetings. If you’re interested you can check them out here: http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/for-alateen.

The whole situation sounds scary and it’s understandable you’d be trying to figure out a way to live with your grandma. We aren’t legal experts; however, your grandma might be able to speak to a lawyer or legal aid to see her chances of fighting for guardianship. Another option would be to try calling your local Child Protective Services to see if an abuse case can be opened. CPS doesn’t always remove children/minors from the home, but when they do sometimes recommend family placement. We'd be happy to talk to you more about your situation and wish you the best of luck!