I am so far behind and have so many posts swimming around in my head (or on the draft table), but at least wanted to give an update of the Permanency Planning Trial.
Last we left off, we were waiting on a court date for a repeat Permanency Planning Trial. That date was finally set for March 1st, and I planned to attend. I typically do, but the last court date I was unable to go, and that was when weird things happened that no one could really explain. Foster Care Review Board was also scheduled for the afternoon of March 1st so I pretty much just took the whole day off.
We were the first case called. Dad's lawyer was there, and apparently mom's lawyer had asked to be relieved from the case (the second lawyer that has done so). But neither dad nor mom showed up. (Seriously?! If I were having a court hearing that concerned my child, I don't care how confident I was that things were going to go my way, or how convinced I was that things weren't.... whether I had a lawyer or not... my butt would be in that courtroom!)
The trial took all of five minutes, and the goal was changed to TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) only! Now we are still waiting on a court date for a trial to actually determine if the rights are terminated.
Foster Care Review Board also took all of about 10 minutes. They presented the case, nothing really has changed, and they still recommended termination of parental rights. (But remember, FCRB really has no weight in that decision, beyond what weight the judge wants to give it when he considers the case.)
And I found out later that mom had shown up for FCRB, but 30 minutes late, after everything was over. I'm not sure why she showed up to that but not to court, but it's all part of "logic in my world and yours is totally different..."
Showing posts with label Foster Care Review Board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foster Care Review Board. Show all posts
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Foster Care Review Board
On March 2nd, the first Foster Care Review Board for Elmer was held. I was told that the board members like for the foster parents to bring the babies in so they can see how they are doing. I had scheduled an ENT appointment for Elmer for the same afternoon, so I picked him up from daycare and went to the Foster Care Review Board meeting first.
Bio's didn't come (not that I thought they would). Although apparently mom had texted JATH the day before and said she was going to drop off some clothes for Elmer - and then did not show up for that, either. (She later dropped off the clothes, which were all from Gymb*ree. Most were marked as clearance but still not extremely cheap. It's always interesting what clothes the family brings. About 3/4 of these clothes were in the right size, but about half of those were winter clothes - and we are pretty much out of winter at this point. The other things were in random sizes up to 12 months bigger than what Elmer is in now.)
Although the board usually asks the foster parents and other "spectators" to step out while they deliberate, they did not ask me to leave, saying "I think we're all on the same page." Then one of the board members said, "We have decided he is going home with me," to which I quickly replied, "You will have to fight me for him!"
Then their real recommendation: "We are going to recommend termination of parental rights." (Reminder that the judge is the one who makes any actual decisions concerning this - the Foster Care Review Board just gives their recommendation to the judge.)
The meeting was also where I learned they cannot proceed with the next court hearing yet because they still have to have a merits hearing for dad. Ugh.
Bio's didn't come (not that I thought they would). Although apparently mom had texted JATH the day before and said she was going to drop off some clothes for Elmer - and then did not show up for that, either. (She later dropped off the clothes, which were all from Gymb*ree. Most were marked as clearance but still not extremely cheap. It's always interesting what clothes the family brings. About 3/4 of these clothes were in the right size, but about half of those were winter clothes - and we are pretty much out of winter at this point. The other things were in random sizes up to 12 months bigger than what Elmer is in now.)
Although the board usually asks the foster parents and other "spectators" to step out while they deliberate, they did not ask me to leave, saying "I think we're all on the same page." Then one of the board members said, "We have decided he is going home with me," to which I quickly replied, "You will have to fight me for him!"
Then their real recommendation: "We are going to recommend termination of parental rights." (Reminder that the judge is the one who makes any actual decisions concerning this - the Foster Care Review Board just gives their recommendation to the judge.)
The meeting was also where I learned they cannot proceed with the next court hearing yet because they still have to have a merits hearing for dad. Ugh.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Time Will Tell
I'm not sure what exactly is going on. I talked with Sunshine yesterday, and she said Mom has (supposedly) been doing what she was supposed to. And that she will be going out to the house to make sure it is still acceptable. She said she anticipates a court date in the next few weeks. Or that there might not even be a court date - that "they" (I'm not exactly sure who the almighty "they" are) may just be able to all sign off on the order to return the kids home. And that she would let me know when she knows more so I can start packing Evie's things.
Talking to Sunshine, you would think Evie is certainly going home in the next few weeks. Me? I'm VERY skeptical. Considering what happened the last time at the last minute before the kids were supposed to go home, I don't know that Mom has it in her to keep it together for long enough to get her kids back. I also don't think that anyone needs to be making the decision to send them back home without a court date and a judge hearing the situation. I'm certainly not packing much before a definite decision has been made (both because there's only so much that can be packed before Evie realizes something is going on and starts asking questions - she's very sharp; and because I don't want to waste my time OR get my hopes up that she will actually be reunified).
Do I think the kids should be reunified with Mom? I can see both sides. Emotionally, these kids NEED their mom, and I feel that she can meet their emotional needs. It is very obvious that she loves Evie and J, and she is very attentive to them. But there are almost certainly some mental health issues, and she has not been able to meet all of their physical needs in the past. I guess I think Mom should be given another chance to parent her kids, with some VERY close monitoring for the next 6-12 months.
Foster Care Review Board is this Wednesday, and I'm sure they will recommend termination again like they did six months ago. And I'm sure Mom won't be there again (OFM said that is what Mom told her). But I'm very curious what new information I will learn there. There were so many things that came up last time that I had no clue about.
And then only time will tell what the end result of this case will be.
Talking to Sunshine, you would think Evie is certainly going home in the next few weeks. Me? I'm VERY skeptical. Considering what happened the last time at the last minute before the kids were supposed to go home, I don't know that Mom has it in her to keep it together for long enough to get her kids back. I also don't think that anyone needs to be making the decision to send them back home without a court date and a judge hearing the situation. I'm certainly not packing much before a definite decision has been made (both because there's only so much that can be packed before Evie realizes something is going on and starts asking questions - she's very sharp; and because I don't want to waste my time OR get my hopes up that she will actually be reunified).
Do I think the kids should be reunified with Mom? I can see both sides. Emotionally, these kids NEED their mom, and I feel that she can meet their emotional needs. It is very obvious that she loves Evie and J, and she is very attentive to them. But there are almost certainly some mental health issues, and she has not been able to meet all of their physical needs in the past. I guess I think Mom should be given another chance to parent her kids, with some VERY close monitoring for the next 6-12 months.
Foster Care Review Board is this Wednesday, and I'm sure they will recommend termination again like they did six months ago. And I'm sure Mom won't be there again (OFM said that is what Mom told her). But I'm very curious what new information I will learn there. There were so many things that came up last time that I had no clue about.
And then only time will tell what the end result of this case will be.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Waiting for the Mail
For just about every day for the last three weeks or so, I have walked to the mailbox and looked for something - an envelope from DSS with notice of a court date for Evie. Her mom's 90 days after the last time she messed up is the end of this month. And from what Sunshine has said, mom seems to be doing what she is supposed to do. So I expected that mom's lawyer would request a court date sometime in May and that we would get notice of it sometime in April. (As much as my brain KNOWS - from everything I have read and experienced - NOT to "expect" that anything will happen on any kind of timeline, I still do it anyway!) So every day when I have opened the mailbox, I have expected to see a court notice. And every day it has not been there. One day last week, I got my hopes up as I grabbed the mail out of the box and saw an envelope with the DSS logo on it. That was notice of the next Foster Care Review Board meeting, which will be next week.
So here we still sit in limbo-land...
So here we still sit in limbo-land...
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Evie and Tank Update
As far as I know, Tank's mom is still on track with her treatment plan. However, Tank's caseworker never updates me about anything, and actually had another incidence last week of picking him up from daycare for a visit without telling me. Evie's caseworker, on the other hand, always tells me ahead of time about visits, and always calls me after the visit to let me know how things went. The day he went for a visit was one of the days that Evie was out sick from school, so I actually seriously considered keeping him home that day. I'm sure they would have been annoyed if he wasn't there; but if I don't know about the visits, I can't guarantee that he will be where you think he is!
Evie's mom has court a week from tomorrow. It is "Judicial Review and Permanency Planning," meaning it has been six months since the treatment plan was established and this is to determine what the progress is. The only thing mom needs to complete is to get a new place to live. They can't return to the house they were living in partly because someone living in the house has a criminal history. Now the family is talking about that family member moving out; and the caseworker said that this may actually happen in time for court next week. If it does, it is definitely possible that Evie will be returned to mom at that time. However, apparently someone from the Foster Care Review Board is planning on being there and sharing their thoughts, so it should definitely be an interesting day! I will update with the results after court next Friday.
Evie's mom has court a week from tomorrow. It is "Judicial Review and Permanency Planning," meaning it has been six months since the treatment plan was established and this is to determine what the progress is. The only thing mom needs to complete is to get a new place to live. They can't return to the house they were living in partly because someone living in the house has a criminal history. Now the family is talking about that family member moving out; and the caseworker said that this may actually happen in time for court next week. If it does, it is definitely possible that Evie will be returned to mom at that time. However, apparently someone from the Foster Care Review Board is planning on being there and sharing their thoughts, so it should definitely be an interesting day! I will update with the results after court next Friday.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Tidbits
A few bits of information I found out when I was at yesterday's Foster Care Review Board:
- The repeat home study of Tank's great grandparents was again denied. Now there is an aunt that is interested, but the caseworker said, "I'm going to have to ask her a lot of questions before we delve into any home study process."
- Apparently when a child is placed in state custody, the state then files for child support payments from the parent(s). That makes sense, but I had never thought about that before.
And clarification from the last post about terminating Evie's parents' rights: The Foster Care Review Board's recommendation that the parents' rights be terminated is just that - a recommendation - and the Board has no power to actually terminate those rights. And I'm not sure how much weight that recommendation holds to a judge who DOES actually have the power to proceed with terminating rights; or even what the process is for the Board presenting their recommendation to the court.
- The repeat home study of Tank's great grandparents was again denied. Now there is an aunt that is interested, but the caseworker said, "I'm going to have to ask her a lot of questions before we delve into any home study process."
- Apparently when a child is placed in state custody, the state then files for child support payments from the parent(s). That makes sense, but I had never thought about that before.
And clarification from the last post about terminating Evie's parents' rights: The Foster Care Review Board's recommendation that the parents' rights be terminated is just that - a recommendation - and the Board has no power to actually terminate those rights. And I'm not sure how much weight that recommendation holds to a judge who DOES actually have the power to proceed with terminating rights; or even what the process is for the Board presenting their recommendation to the court.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Foster Care Review Board
Today was Foster Care Review Board for Evie. I'm not sure if all states have this, but in the words of the chairman, "We are not part of DSS; we are not anti-DSS. We are here as a checks and balances system for DSS to make sure that everything is being looked at." From my understanding they make recommendations and then present them to the court (Judicial Review for Evie and J is next month). Evie's mom did not show up; OFM (Other Foster Mom) said that mom's lawyer told her not to go; the board did not look at that fact highly.
I can't go into a lot of details, but here is what I can say. There was A LOT of information revealed that I had never heard before. About mom's past. About the living situation when the kids were removed from the home. About a second psychological evaluation that was done after mom's lawyer requested it due to questions about the first psychologist's credentials; an evaluation that was done after mom had read the report from the first psychologist - a report that raised A LOT of significant concerns about mom's ability to parent. Of course the second evaluation did not have much in terms of recommendations or concerns, because mom then knew what was going to be asked and how she should answer the questions.
The only thing left officially for mom to complete on the treatment plan is to find a safe place to live. But the board felt like there should be a lot of other things on there. And ultimately the board's recommendation was for termination of parental rights. Which kind of blew me away, because at the beginning of the case, I expected Evie to be here a month or two at most (and even recently, I still felt confident she would go back with mom eventually). But after all the new things I learned today, it didn't surprise me. (Edited to add: This recommendation is just that - a recommendation - and the Foster Care Review Board has no power to actually terminate those rights. And I'm not sure how much weight that recommendation holds to a judge who DOES actually have the power to proceed with terminating rights; or even what the process is for the Board presenting their recommendation to the court.)
They also put me on the spot and asked me if rights were terminated, if I would adopt Evie. My honest answer is, "I really don't think so", but I wasn't sure what to say, so I was vague and ended up saying, "I would consider it." I just pray those kids get some permanency soon.
I can't go into a lot of details, but here is what I can say. There was A LOT of information revealed that I had never heard before. About mom's past. About the living situation when the kids were removed from the home. About a second psychological evaluation that was done after mom's lawyer requested it due to questions about the first psychologist's credentials; an evaluation that was done after mom had read the report from the first psychologist - a report that raised A LOT of significant concerns about mom's ability to parent. Of course the second evaluation did not have much in terms of recommendations or concerns, because mom then knew what was going to be asked and how she should answer the questions.
The only thing left officially for mom to complete on the treatment plan is to find a safe place to live. But the board felt like there should be a lot of other things on there. And ultimately the board's recommendation was for termination of parental rights. Which kind of blew me away, because at the beginning of the case, I expected Evie to be here a month or two at most (and even recently, I still felt confident she would go back with mom eventually). But after all the new things I learned today, it didn't surprise me. (Edited to add: This recommendation is just that - a recommendation - and the Foster Care Review Board has no power to actually terminate those rights. And I'm not sure how much weight that recommendation holds to a judge who DOES actually have the power to proceed with terminating rights; or even what the process is for the Board presenting their recommendation to the court.)
They also put me on the spot and asked me if rights were terminated, if I would adopt Evie. My honest answer is, "I really don't think so", but I wasn't sure what to say, so I was vague and ended up saying, "I would consider it." I just pray those kids get some permanency soon.
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