Who Stands Up For The Little People?

This is my great-niece Rosalie...and poor Rosalie is caught between a set of battling parents. I live six hours away from my family so I don't know all that is going on but I can say this, my heart goes out to this poor baby. I am not going to go into finger pointing and name calling and all that because as I said I don't know all the details and as the old saying goes "there are three sides to every story; his, hers and the truth."

Right now we have a huge family triangle going on...the one side contains Rosalie's 'father' (my nephew Robert), Rosalie's grandfather and step-grandmother (my brother Albert and Gina), Rosalie's great-grandmother (my mother Carol), and now Rosalie's step-aunt (my brother's wife's daughter Jessica). Then the other side is Rosalie's mother (Autumn), Rosalie's Grandmother (Shelli). Hope this helps...

Since Rosalie was born there has been a battle between sides, Autumn and Shelli believe that as the mother and maternal grandmother they know the baby best and what is best for her. While Robert is being told by Albert, Gina and Carol that something isn't right with the baby. I have actually only seen her a few times, I met her when she was 2 months old, saw her again a month or so later, then about six weeks after that, but everytime I have seen her something has been off. I have seen this baby puke a whole bottle of formula across the room in 2 seconds flat. I have heard her scream for long periods of time to let out a large belch and be fine. So I tend to believe that there is something not quite right. But anyway the battle has been on for the past six months over who is the better parent, who knows the child best, who knows what to do with her and what not to do with her.

Well now it has gotten ugly...I won't go into details as I have said I don't know the whole story but basically Autumn and Robert broke up over issues pertaining to Rosalie. There was a doctors visit that one side is saying the other lied about, and that side is saying it was just discussing things while at the doctors it wasn't a planned thing...not taking sides. However because of the percieved lies the relationship has ended but now the baby is stuck in the middle being pulled in some many directions like 'strech armstrong'. Autumn feels that she is the mother and they can't take her baby away from her especially if they are filling her with drugs she doesn't need (oval and gripe water) and feeding her pablum before her system can digest it (she was given a tiny bit mixed with her bottle at 5 1/2 months old). Robert feels that Autumn is a horrible mother because she is going out partying all the time leaving the baby home with her mother who then in turns trust the baby with a 9 year old while she goes out looking for the partying mother. Either way the whole thing is no longer about what is best for baby Rosalie but which side is right. Mediation appointments have been made, and not attended. Court papers have been served but no one attends. We continue to fight. Then Autumn decides well the baby isn't yours I lied to you and you are not entitled to my baby...as I said all about me winning not about the baby.

So my qusetion is this...who stands up for that poor defenseless baby? I love her as she is my niece but I am not attached to her the way everyone else is as I have only seen her 3-4 times so that might make me the most impartial person in all of this but she is suffering. The parents, grandparents, aunts that she has known are being pulled away from her and then thrust back at her. The poor baby no longer knows what end is up...the worst part is that this will never end. I have seen this type of fighting for control before, it is never about the kids it is about being the one who controls the shots and the child is always the victim. And of course when you try to talk to the parents they can't see your point and assume you are just taking sides. And everyone is trying to recruit people onto their side, but in all of this there is only one side that matters...the side of that defenseless baby.

Right now all I can do is stand back and hope that all goes well, since I don't live there I am not really involved and honestly I prefer it that way. But my heart is breaking. Not for the end of my nephew's relationship because honestly I never saw it lasting in the first place. I am hurting for the breaking of a home. I am hurting for that poor baby who's world has been turned upside down and will never be the same again. Someone has to stand up for the little people, I just wish it was her parents.