When My Boyfriend Began Using Drugs I Was Thankful That He Was Not the Father
Friday, October 26th, 2007ONE CUSTOMER’S STORY - name and details changed for privacy
Janice and Tom had been going together on and off for a few years. When Janice gave birth to a son, whom she named him Brent, Tom moved in with her. Tom was a good father to Brent and according to Janice, things were going well.
But then Tom began getting into drugs. Eventually, he lost his job and became depressed. As things got worse, Janice began to worry about Brent’s safety, especially because Tom would sometimes take Brent out for a drive, and Janice couldn’t always tell if Tom was loaded. Tom also began to bring some new “friends” to the house that made Janice uncomfortable.
To escape Tom and the craziness that had become his life, Janice took Brent and moved in with her sister. When Tom came around to see Brent, Janice felt torn because she did want Brent to continue to have a relationship with Tom. But Brent’s safety was her main concern and she no longer felt that she could trust Tom; he just wasn’t the same man any more.
Finally, Janice told Tom that he wasn’t Brent’s real father and that she didn’t want him to come around anymore. Tom became angry with Janice and told her that he didn’t believe her and as Brent’s father, he had the right to continue to see him.
In the end, it was a DNA Paternity Test that convinced Tom that he really didn’t have any legal rights to see Brent. Amazingly, it was the loss of Brent that finally changed the direction of Tom’s downward spiral into drug abuse. He so wanted to continue to see the boy that he got himself into recovery.
We don’t know the end of this story, because after the DNA test we were no longer involved. But we are satisfied that we provided some help.
