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Originally Posted by KyliesMommy
Thank you so much.
One question...did the birthmom sign TPR prior to that so you received custody and then the actual hearing?
Thank you again!
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The birthmom signed a temporary custody form assigning us physical custody of the baby. This way we were able to put her on our insurance and make medical decisions for her. This is different than termination of parental rights hearing. If my memory serves me correctly, the petition for adoption must be filed with the court withing 2 weeks of placement. The court is supposed to schedule a TPR hearing within 30 days of that petition for adoption. It can take longer due to case backlogs. Once the parents rights are terminated, they have 21 days to appeal if they can prove fraud or coercion. After that there is 6 months of court supervision in which you must have 2 home visits by a designee of the court (usually the CW from your agency). After six month of court supervision, you can petition the court to finalize the adoption which can be done by a court hearing or by mail.
From an adoptive parents point of view, Michigan is one of the tougher states and we spent almost the entire time (from August 3rd to October 4th) on pins and needles. I understand the reasoning for it. They really want to make sure the birth parents are making an informed decision and aren't pressured. Although it wasn't easy, we were at least comforted by the fact that everyone had plenty of time to think about it and the fact that they were still firm in their decision 6 weeks later meant that they would probably never try to contest.
Hope this helps.