[lynnpalm]

We sort of fell into fostering after having an adoption fall through. We brought or fd home from the hospital as a newborn in October, 2005. At the time the investigator sw assured us that this situation would be a fast-track adoption. (Knowing now what I know, how could she say that? Were we gullible?) That was 21 months ago. We have a TPR trial that is scheduled for early Sept. I just keep on hoping and praying that things work out for us.
Someone asked earlier about going to court. In that state I live in fp can go to court. Between the two of us, husband and I have gone to every court event, and to every 6 month placement meeting. We have made this choice because we only hear snippets of the realities of the case from the cw on her monthly visits. This whole experience has been so full of ups and downs that we needed to have as much of the full picture as we could get. The judge for this case always asks if the fp have anything to say. I always tried to update the judge on this little one's size (initially because whe was itty bitty at the beginning), and where this little one was developmentally I never said anything about wanting to adopt her, because I didn't feel like the court stuff was about our wants. I figured the nonverbal message of always having one or both of us at court showed our unspoken desire.
Hope things go well with all of you
Thanks again for this thread!