My stepson is 7 years old and he lives with his mom in TX. I want to give the disclaimer that we DON’T believe it’s “none of my business” and we don’t play that game. We all believe that it is important that the child is co-parented amongst all of us and he’s my baby just as much as he is theirs. He calls me mom, I am his other mom and have been since he was a baby. Period. Anyways, from the time he was little (around 2), he has always been a bit out of control. His mom doesn’t believe in discipline (her words) and only believes in ignoring bad behavior and praising positive. If he tells her to stfu, she says it’s not nice and walks away. It’s W I L D. We continuously tell her that he NEEDS discipline and structure but she said she believes in self-guided learning. Note, my husband and I have a 5 year old that lives with us. He’s very well behaved other than the typical stuff for his age. When he was little it was pushing other kids, punching his mom, screaming to get his way, etc. Then it escalated to running out of class, bringing knifes to school, mocking teachers, bullying kids, etc. Mom does not add dad to the parent list for any schools or doctors. Nor does she keep him involved. We had it put in the parenting plan that the child was to stay in therapy because we were scared she would take him out. She took him out anyways. She’s also moved states and not told the next school he had an IEP. When his behavior got worse (punching his computer during zoom and laughing so he didn’t have to do work for example), now she’s pushing all of these diagnosis. She’s tried ADHD and sleep apnea. Now she’s pushing for autism and ODD. As a pre-doctoral student in clinical mental health, I can say that ODD and ADHD do go in hand, however treating the ADHD often treats the ODD. Here’s the thing, she lied on half of his assessment through the doctor to get him on adderall. Now he’s on it and is SO hyperactive. The school is pushing her to get him off of it or have him reevaluated but she refuses. I can also assure you he does not have autism. She’s also trying to go through the school to have him diagnosed (they can’t diagnose him with clinical diagnosis) instead of going through a psychologist. He’s now being held back to kindergarten for THE SECOND time. My husband and I feel so out of control. We can’t afford court until next year. My heart is breaking for him because he isn’t being taught any better and she’s setting up his future. Also to add, she makes it so he doesn’t want to leave her. He’ll have a panic attack because she “can’t function without him.” It comes off as factious disorder type of craziness but I really just think she doesn’t know what to do and she’s trying to mask her poor parenting with all of these diagnosis and medication he doesn’t need. Any advice at all??