[LoViN_LiFe]

is very difficult. We are adopting my great-neice (who is 18months we have had her since she was 3months). We have had an attorney since before TPR occured. Mostly because we wanted our voices heard in court. We wanted the judge to know what we wanted. Also CPS/DHS can speed up a background check. OUrs was done in a day. We had our lil girl with us and then CPS did the rest of the paperwork and homestudy. In Texas the homestudy is a little different for relatives...also we are not required to take classes. If the court decides to place child with you they may put him with you asap because here the adoption process after termination is at least 4-5 months. And that is if there is no appeals. Is grandma wanting to adopt? As far as lawyer fees ours is a straight $500 fee. But hourly based on TPR and pre-TPR trials, mediations, and phone calls and meetings...its not been cheap AT ALL! Well worth it thou. Having our attorney has left us in the loop so much more then we would have been without him, although CPS and GAL were wonderful...he got us through all the logistics. We were told "speeding up the process" depended on us. The faster we get paperwork in the quicker the process. Good Luck!