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Teenagers

16 year old son continues to steal from me. What do I do?

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LostParent2024 · 13/03/2024 00:11

My 16 year old son just stole from me again. This has been a problem in the past, he stole hundreds of dollars on Fortnite and to buy food, but got severely worse in the last 7 months. In September last year he used an old iPhone of mine to buy a car using my Coinbase account (BTW if you have a coinbase account be very careful as he was able to initiate a $8K instant transfer that was not reversible). I was optimistically hoping this was rock bottom and he would turn things around. At the time he was becoming more and more defiant and disrespectful. After being caught he was more compliant and complied with his four month grounding and has been cleaning our house weekly to pay me back. We were able to reverse the transaction in small claims court, so the car has been towed to the original owner (another drama I had to go through).

Yesterday I found he took my old ATM card and withdrew $200 from the bank a couple weeks ago. He used the money to purchase an Amazon credit card programming device along with 10 blank cards (I am assuming to make copies of my credit card?). In any case, he clearly did not learn his lesson. We have seen countless therapists and tried a few different ADHD medications prescribed by his psychiatrist, but he rarely complies and takes them. 
Unfortunately what I think is a major source of the problem is not possible to resolve. I am divorced and while I fall on the more strict side of the spectrum and can enforce consequences, his mother is a push over that he can manipulate fairly easily. I tried switching our custody schedule to two weeks at my house and two weeks at hers just to get him on a consistent schedule (he misses school about 30% of the days he is at her house and maybe 5% at mine), but he fought it and I caved. His mom just purchased two kittens and he said he missed them and his mom too much.. He can be a very sweet kid, but also very difficult and effective at pushing my buttons, so even I was manipulated after spending a week with him just hoping to get a break. Getting him to school in the morning is a real challenge that wears on me..

So I am wondering what I should do? I am thinking about pressing charges and seeing if I can go through the legal system (maybe scare him straight). I actually learned the county has wraparound services for juveniles on probation. He could get paired with a "big brother" like counselor who he might listen to.

 Another option is to just tell his mother that either I take him 100% or she does. So either he can have some structure at my house, or she can deal with the consequences of her actions. If he does anything wrong his mom immediately just calls me. Maybe losing me for a few months could also help him realize what he lost. For instance, he will have no car or driver's license most likely.. 

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Treeinthesky · 13/03/2024 21:29

Does he get dla for his adhd? If not apply. Then let him have his own money. Adhd boy? What's he using the money for? Does he smoke weed ? Is that the issue?

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