update on custody etc. Anyone else raising their grandkids?

Well, three years into a one year custody deal on my grandkids and the plot thickens. We, as in my wife, daughter, and myself have been put under a microscope with CPS and DCFS over the last three years. House visits, documents, backround checks, work history and the list goes on. Meanwhile we have constant 'status hearings' and must use days off at work to make court hearings. In the process of the extended custody my grandson who turned 4 in February and my grandaughter who just turned 6 this week were only 18 months and just about 3 when we got them and just now are showing signs of the terrible lifestyle they came out of from when the biological parents had them. Head doctors, meds and med adjustments, and constant trips to head doctor for counselling are helping a great deal and the kids are doing okay. My daughter, wife, and I have our good days and bad days as the stress level is pretty high at times with all the goings on. The issue that tears at me the most is my son amd his wife, (the biological parents) dont do nearly as much as they should to get their kids back. They say they want them but when they try and are given a list of what to do they seem to pick and choose what they do and dont want to do and come to court with the old excuse book and demands of what they want. One that is pretty goofy and kind of gives you an idea of what we deal with is they pushed on the court a request to have us drive the kids halfway to their house so they could visit with them at their residence. Now, I did not ask them to move 300 miles away from us when they lived only about 12 miles away before they moved and we did not like having to travel 150 miles just to drop them off and pick them up but we did what the attorneys wanted. What started as a arranged drop off and pickup time at the location 'morphed' into them being late to arrive when getting them and even later to dropping them off. Now myself I work 12 hours a day at my job. In addition my wife and I split duties with the kids as she works about 10 hours a day. My days start at 2:30 am and ends at 8:30 pm. My wifes starts at 7:00 am and ends at 11:00 pm. We try to keep our 16 year old daughter out of the mix as she has enough to deal with being her age. These weekend trips were killing most of our free time and lots was getting pushed to the weekdays we used to do on weekends. Repairs, shopping, bills etc. and it made things pretty tough at times. With the delays on their part Fridays and Sundays were really long days. After 6 months the meeting place drop off stopped. After that the visitation became sporadic. Last time in court they demanded we start dropping them off again. They were told by the judge it was their responsibilty to drive down and visit their kids, not ours! And the old excuse book came out once more. No money, no available days off of work, cat had a hairball, had to change the winter air in the tires to summer air and the valves now leaked etc. Anyways we are not dropping them off anymore PERIOD!! Now since they have not been doing what the should have been with the lawyer and court system they up and got an attorney of their own to fight big time. These kids have no money at all and struggle to pay bills yet they have a late model Tahoe with a V8 and 4 wheel drive, a 52 inch flatscreen TV with high def, a home theater system with a to z gaming and dvds. The wife dont work and they have another daughter in their care who just turned one in march. All of this and they cant see their kids on any kind of schedule and its really screws with the little ones when they are always in and out of their lives like they are. It also causes alot of drama around here too.

Bottom line is we are ecstatic to have or grandkids in our life. Its tough but worth it. This has made the bond with my wife stronger too! We surround ourselves with the kids needs and make sure they are doing okay. We also take time to make sure our daughter is doing good and make time for her as needed. My wife and I have given up our hobbies and have both knuckled down on all the tasks at hand. In my regard you may have noticed I am not on this site much anymore. The car is covered up in the garage and has gotten about 500 miles on it the last three years. No upgrades to it and no shows anymore. With this new attorney I see lots of court dates, jumping through more hoops, many more demands from my son and his wife, and more time these grandkids have to deal with all this rabble as there is lots of picking and prodding ad lots of broken promises from the other end we must de-fuse as this just upsets the kids and tosses them off balance. We are in all this for the long haul and will do what is needed. The car, tools, and project harley just may be sold off before long because quite frankly I am losing interest in this stuff. It seems to me the kids are much more important when viewing the big picture. Sorry for the rant and long story but this is really the first time in the past three years I have opened up and let some steam out. Thanks for the much needed therapy FABO!!!
Chas.