Depression in Children Support Group

sounds like he needs to talkto someone, if the mom's hubby is abusive to her then he is most likley abusing him, if you know this and his father can prove it then maybe you should have custody of him, sit down and talk with him, then see about getting him into therapy. document everything, will the mom sit down and talk to the father about any of of this or she in denial of any abuse going. this will very much be an imapact on him but someone needs to step up to the plate and get something done, if the home is not a good one then get him out of there.. talk to a lawyer.

thank you for your response...i actually have tried talking to him and the most information that I have gotten out of him is that "jeff is a bad man" and he also once said that jeff punched him in the arm, and that jeff calls him a loser and all kinds of things like that. I also know from the mother telling us that jeff has been abusive to her and she has left him several times but seems to have a hard time keeping him away. but as soon as they are back together she is in denial of everything. there are also 2 other children in the home, one is 3 also and the other is one and i am concerned for them also.
getting custody will be next to impossible i think because theres really no way to prove that jeff is abusive other than what my step son has told me. and i know if it went to court the mother would deny the whole thing.
but on the other hand maybe it would work because i do know that the mother is neglectful, i know that he only gets a bath when he is here with us (every 2 weeks) and that the mother has her father babysit for her while she works strange hours and goes to pick the kids up and wakes them at 3 in the morning.
i do have the number for child protective services and i think we are going to try to talk to the mother this weekend and if she is not willing to talk or denies the whole thing we may have to involve them because i will not sit around and wait for something terrible to happen to this little boy. hes such a good kid and it breaks my heart to hear him say those things.

I would sctually talk to a lawyer first. they can make some suggestions about how to go about gettinghim out there. I woulds do that before calling srs, there is also a thing called child in need of care, it does not involve the srs either but the courst are involved,. the lawyer may be able to tell you more about that. I would not tell her you plan on talkingto anyone, just talk to her and tell her you are concerned for her the kids, do not tell her anything the little boy tells you, she may go and tell the husband and that could make it worse for hem, most 3 yr. olds do not make stuff up. you may wantto look into getting him and advocate who will represent him and talk for him in court,hang in there and document everything, dates. the condition you get him in and send him home in, also you can use a recording device on your phone, ifshe calls you can tape the conversation, if she says something to you in person write down the date and what she said, time also, sounds like a lot of work, but ifyou end up in court it will help a lot, good luck

I am sorry but I am so disturbed that you haven't taken extreme action FOR this child. Authorities should have been notified immediately. It is your responsibility to do whatever it takes to make sure this child isn't harmed emotionally or physically ever again. In my opinion, to sit by and talk about it makes you just as abusive as this child's "mother" and stepfather. It doesn't take a genius to see when a child is effected by their parents' bad choices. The things you report him saying are such obvious symptoms of his situation. That poor child doesn't have a home he can call his own. He is a perpetual guest wherever he goes. My heart breaks for him. Be his advocate and call CPS NOW!