New to the forum and as much as I am intrigued of what other members have to deal with (to thwart potential future issues) I already could use some advice.
I am not yet, by legal definition, a SP however, I have been involved moreso in the lives of our family than their bio impersonator, er, I mean dad. That said, I still have rivalry issues with the kids and their obvious tolerance of me being in their lives. We have dealt with a myriad of issues but the one that continues to spawn is the bio dads persistence to utilize the kids for his personal gain. Because of his instability and trust issues with his outbursts we have adopted a policy of disallowing our kids from taking a house key with them when they goto visit with him. Today, should have been routine exception being the stepson attempted to lie to me where the key was. He had his backpack slung over his shoulder and aimlessly wandered around the house in hopes I wouldn't pay attn. that he was attempting to cover his tracks and lies. Supposedly he found his key in the toddlers room (light off mind you) and the only noise that could be heard was from the Velcro on the backpack being opened.
The obvious trust issue comes into play because we are consistently lied to about trivial stuff which is usually covered with another inarguable lie. Because of bio dads instability we don't want this key to travel overnight for opportunity to have access to our home should we be away for any amount of time. Question; how to deal with the lie and also how to stop the impersonator from using the kids for his gain or pitting them against us. I digress.. Thanks in advance!