There’s not much I can say about my parent’s life together as it was short-lived. I guesstimate that my sister and I were placed in the privately arranged foster home when I was about 16-20 months old and sis would have been 2-6 months.
Much of this period is pieced together through what little I do know and then formed into something that seems to fit. Remember that my dad doesn’t want to talk about anything that happened before yesterday and we have been estranged since 1994, so even if he has changed his tune I still don’t have access to the information.
Suffice it to say that mom was granted custody, and was the one, incidentally, that sourced the foster placement. Dad paid mom support payments which she in turn used to pay the foster parents. I’m not sure how long this payment arrangement was in force before it went south, but I do know that my dad went back to court to change the payment path and started paying support through the courts and then at some point acquired custody. Apparently my mom didn’t even show up for these court dates.
From this point on mom flitted in and out of our lives as the mood struck her. I have no recall of this, but again after some period, undefined, my father put his foot down and told her to stay away, that her comings and goings were really disruptive and destructive. Possibly one of the smartest actions I can attribute to and thank him for though when I was younger I thought it was terrible that he could do such a thing, keeping our mother away. Now I heartily agree with this action.
From my perspective that pretty much ends the “family unit” history of my life. Next, life with the foster parents!