Hi I'm new to the site and am in desperate need of advice. My partner and I have been together coming up to 4 years, I am currently 6 months pregnant and we have 3 other children between us. My daughter aged 7 and my stepsons aged 7 and 10. My partner has shared custody with his ex and we have my daughter the majority of the time. My eldest stepson has significant behaviour issues, he has always been a fairly difficult child since I have known him but I put that down to his parents getting a divorce and worked hard to develop a bond with him. Everything seemed to be going well until the behaviour continued to escalate despite him having a very good support network and the other children doing well. We began to suspect there maybe deeper issues as he finds sleeping difficult and has some sensory problems, we asked for professional help but kept getting told we didn't meet the criteria. Things got so bad he was permanently excluded from school. His mum and dad found him a new school to which he seemed to adapt and we had a really good period of 3-4 months, then I got pregnant, all the children seemed really happy by the news but a week later my stepson was suspended for being violent towards his teachers, something which seemed to snowball and repeatedly reoccur. He had been violent before to his dad and brother but the behaviour became really dangerous at school also. His dad sometimes has to physically restrain him which my stepson then accused him of physical abuse, so now social services are also involved. I have never seen a child act like this and we have honestly tried everything, nothing seems to work. I am now considering moving out of the family home as I have to safeguard the baby and my daughter but my partner and the other children don't want that. I love my family and I really want my stepson to get the help he needs and to have a good relationship with his dad but I just can't handle it anymore. I don't feel safe around him, I'm constantly on edge and currently take antidepressants to cope and I don't think it's fair for me to put his dad in a difficult position so I thought leaving would be the best option but my partner is heavily against that. Please help!
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