Legal Question in Family Law in New York

My daughter, a single parent of a one-year old lives at home. For many years she has had what appears to be some type of depression or other behavior disorder. Her decision making skills are suspect She has very poor credit and tends to ignore bills. In the past three weeks she has started seeing an old boyfriend. She has started not coming home/not calling.(baby is with me) but she doesn't see why she has to report to me. She often does not do what is in the best interest of the baby. She dislikes shopping and preparing meals so she buys fast food items. She gives the baby dry cereal to munch on with a bottle on the side and walks away. She is eligible for WIC but let it lapse and has not pursued it further. I have bought her books on childcare to help her with a variety of issues but she disagrees with the experts. Since I babysit during work hours, I make sure the baby has a variety of fruits and veggies and make her a balanced meal. My daughter's housekeeping skills have gone down hill and I am concerned. When I try to talk to her she gets defensive and I don't want to rock the boat so to speak. The baby's father has had depression/anger/alcohol issues. My question is this: Based on background information, what recourse do I have to ensure my granddaughter will be protected? I have kept a log of some of the odd things that occur - taking her out late at night, during a snow storm - for reasons that she "does not want to stay in the house and rot". Usually she is meeting friends or now going to her boyfriend's My daughter's behavior seems to me to be quite immature - as these are issues we have had since she was thirteen. At that point she was starting to miss school and there was suspicion of seasonal affective disorder. I had taken her to a psychiatrist and psychologist 3x during her high school years because of her truancy and other issues. She would not cooperate then and seems no more likely to cooperate now even though there are still problems to be worked on.
It's such a delicate balance but changed is needed. Is there anything legal (in NY) that I can do?
Thank you -
Margaret

Asked on 1/10/10, 5:14 am

Locksley Wade Law Office of Locksley O. Wade

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Try contacting the Office of Children & Family Services http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/

Answered on 1/17/10, 5:40 pm

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