There is a strange child in my apartment. Idk if I should keep him
Off the bat, said child is technically related to me. He is my estranged brother's son, though I have never met him until three weeks ago. My brother and I weren't speaking at the time of the pregnancy and a few years after, so I don't know a lot. All I know I heard from my mother, but even she is fuzzy on the details as my brother has been exceptionally cagey about it. It was, however, clear my brother wasn't planning to take responsibilty. As he happens to be a gaping asshole with a major drinking problem, I honestly thought him not being involved was for the best and dropped it.
Apparently my brother reconnected with his baby mama and kid a couple of years ago while going through the AA process for the umpteenth time. It sounds like the lovebirds had a very brief, very messy fling that ended terribly. One good thing did come of it, though- my brother agreed to start financially contributing and occasionally seeing Kid. I only have my brother's side of the story in which he is always the victim, but I strongly suspect he only honored his word for a few months until he started drinking again. He doesn't know much about Kid. Which makes the fact my brother was listed as an emergency contact with Kid's school a little baffling.
Cut to three weeks ago. Kid's school calls my brother and said Kid, now a pre-teen, didn't want to go home because no one was there and he was scared. The school couldn't contact Kid's mom, so they called my brother, who agreed to come right over.
So proud of him for finally caring. Not.
He somehow convinces the idiots in the front office to hand Kid over and immediately runs his car into a concrete barrier in the parking lot. The school resource officer immediately arrested him for DUI and child endangerment, since Kid was in the backseat.
As my brother has no friends and the only other family member who can drive has completely cut off contact, he called me to pick Kid up or else CPS was going to take him.
Now there is an adolescent boy I never met in my apartment. The toilet seat is up, my Switch has been plundered, and he is taking suspiciously long showers at least twice a day.
Y'all, I love this kid. He has some problems, but the last few weeks have been amazing. But, holy shit, this is such a terrible idea. I, myself, am a hot fucking mess and barely holding it together. I have Bipolar Disorder and, while I would adore to have children, I have promised to never do so. Frankly, I just don't think I'm stable enough to care for someone else. It's all fine and dandy until I have a psychotic episode out of nowhere.
Not to mention the cost of another person. I also see more than a few medical bills in Kid's future as I strongly suspect he has a few developmental issues thay are going to need specialized care.
Still... Would it be that bad to keep him? Kid has a case worker who seemes to think he would do very poorly in a foster home and I have no illusions as to his adoptability. I am far from an ideal option, but Kid has been largely happy here and I would at least love him. He has been very clear he wants to stay with me, but I don't think he, or even his caseworker, fully grasp how utterly incompetent I can be.