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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to say this is enough and leave him behind out of our lives.

12 replies

Lostandlonely2020 · 18/10/2020 20:57

Hi this is going to be really long winded but trying not to drip feed.
DD born 7 years ago - critically ill and was in hospital until she was nearly 2 and then continues to be in and out although doing better these days.
Still requires a lot of home care, hospital admissions etc.
Her dad left when she was 2 weeks old in the neonatal unit.
Since then the relationship has been rocky but due to professional input I kept the relationship between DD and her father. Very early on he was horrid and then ended in him being sectioned after a drug induced psychotic break down, he had apparently got on drugs after making new friends at work.
He was also arrested for transportation of class A drugs.
Anyway for a while we kept visiting at bay until he was “ better “ things did get better for about a year but then started doing south again.

  • contact was Inconsistent so was matinence payments with lots of excuses etc
  • he cancelled DD after not seeing her for months when he promised to take her out to a Xmas show as he couldn’t get time off work but it ended up that he was on Thailand for 3 weeks on a lads holiday.
He did not come when she has open heart surgery or was in icu with sepsis. When he is with her he treats her well and she engages well and does like him. But contact has still been hit and miss. He lies after missing last contact he sent me a picture of a arm injury which did look pretty grim this was mid of August ( last time he has messaged or answered my messages and phone calls ) I started to get worried because he had basically gone awol since sending me the arm picture. Not responding at all. I contacted his friend today and she sent me a screen shot of the message from beginning of july with the arm injury so he had not done it on the Friday and it was not the reason he had no contact. I have not spoken to this friend in 7 years but now I do know that for the last 2 he has been back on drugs in a bad way. Been found collapsed on chairs etc He has been in the “ local smack group “ Friend is claiming he is not well and he needs help etc I should reach out to him but I’m done ? My daughter asks for her dad I have tried, it then comes out they he has been telling them that DD has only a year to live and I have been stopping them seeing each other . This is not true, I didn’t know he was back on drugs and I have never stopped contact apart from the 3 months when he went in to hospital / rehab and then showed evidence that he was clean. My DD is poorly and had been through a lot of medical issues and survived but not dying in the next year ( and hopefully never ). They think it should be me who reaches out to him but I am done ??? DD has a good life despite the hospital and home treatments, she has a nice home, never goes without, has an amazing step dad. We have a very nice life. How much longer can I keep trying !!! Aibu to not reach out ?
OP posts:
AutumnSummersBuffysCousin · 18/10/2020 22:52

Didn’t want to leave you unanswered. What more can you do- you have tried. I would leave things as they are, if he gets clean and sober then it will be up to him to make contact and amends with DD. If she asks in the meantime, tell her you don’t know where he is. It is not your responsibility to force him into being a father.

S00LA · 18/10/2020 23:07

Please please stop all this now.

You are a single parent to a child with serious health problems. You do not have the time or energy to be an addiction support worker / community psychiatric nurse / therapist / counsellor in your spare time.

He is a very mixed up person and you can’t fix him. Leave him alone and get in with your own life. You have spent 7 years trying to make him into the kind of dad you want him to be and it’s not worked.

Let it go. Stop messaging him or his friends. Stop contacting him. If he gets in touch and wants to see your DD, insists that he does regular indirect contact first.

Make him prove that he is reliable.

Please don’t let her be messed around by him. You clearly have trouble setting boundaries for yourself - you are an Adult, that’s your own choice. But it’s not fair to use your DD to work out your own issues, she deserves better.

nimbuscloud · 18/10/2020 23:13

I’ve read your other threads.
Ditch the loser and focus on your daughter.

MasksGlovesSoapScrubs · 18/10/2020 23:17

No. He can reach out.
You have done your best. You're not a doormat and your daughter is not a toy he can choose to pick up and play with when it suits him.

Lostandlonely2020 · 18/10/2020 23:30

@S00LA I have boundaries I reached out to his friend to make sure he was ok as I was concerned for him if that makes me a bad person then so be it.

OP posts:
Lostandlonely2020 · 18/10/2020 23:32

I also don’t want him in my life and not using her in anyway. She loves her dad I don’t. If he left and never came back as long as I knew he wasn’t in a ditch somewhere it would not bother me. I tried to make it work for her.

OP posts:
Lostandlonely2020 · 18/10/2020 23:33

Also the first time in 7 years I have ever spoke to any of his friends.

OP posts:
PickAChew · 18/10/2020 23:36

It's not your job to fix him. Focus on you and your dd.

twilightermummy · 18/10/2020 23:38

I remember reading your thread the other day and voting YANBU to trying to discover what had happened to him. However, Im not surprised this is how it panned out. Drug users are the most manipulative people out there. They lie so much you can’t work out whether you’re coming or going.
The fact that you have tried to maintain some form of a relationship is a testament to how good a mother you are. You’re doing it to ensure that your daughter has everything. However, in my experience, these things don’t get better. He will continue to let her down all her life (as long as he lives anyway).
Protect her from this and keep her away. I wish I’d done this. Don’t waste your time. She will be better without him x

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 18/10/2020 23:40

You've done more than enough. When dd asks in later years you can tell her that you tried but he wasn't honest with you or consistent for her.

PanamaPattie · 18/10/2020 23:46

Stop wasting your time on him. He left when she was 2 weeks old. There is your huge red flag. He is a pathetic, manipulative drug user. Why would you want a twat like him to be part of your lives? Let him find his ditch and hope he lies down and stays there. It's more than he deserves.

S00LA · 19/10/2020 09:13

[quote Lostandlonely2020]@S00LA I have boundaries I reached out to his friend to make sure he was ok as I was concerned for him if that makes me a bad person then so be it.[/quote]
I didn’t say it made you a bad person, read my post.

And it’s fine to be concerned, but you need to ask yourself if it’s in your child’s best interest to act on your concern by chasing him.

You need to deal with your own feelings in another way, Perhaps by counselling or joining a self help group.

And I’m sorry, But he will almost certainly end up “ in a ditch “ somewhere . So why are you trying to force a relationship with her on him - she will just end up more hurt each time there’s a no show or when he dies?

You couldn’t fix his addiction when you lived with him and you can’t do it now. Surely 8 years of trying has shown you that ?

You CANT make this work for her.

Please let him live his own life, make his own choices. You concentrate on your new partner, you child and your career.

What does your child understand about her fathers addictions?

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