[foster_bub]

Just curious on how many foster parents regularly attend court hearings?

I've attended a few judicial reviews and seem to think that the Fl magistrates and judges seem to be very lenient on the bio parents.

our fs bio mom has 6 kids, she's just had another, so 7 kids who are all in care. She was granted ANOTHER 6 month extension. The kids (with the exception of the newborn) have now been in care just under 18 mos.

Seems to me that attending these are a waste of time. Only one time out of the 1/2 dozen I've attended did the bio parents show.

Though, I like being informed so there are no surprises and both of our case manager are new.

[AmahMama]

I go whenever the CW lets me know when they are. If I have notice, I send a statement for the judge and if he has any questions, I am there to answer them.

I truly believe the judges just want to cover all of their bases and do the CYA thing so that if TPR happens there are no grounds for appeal and overturn.

I also believe that when kids are brought into custody there should be serious repercussions if another child is born before reunification. If nothing else, some sort of long lasting birth control should be implanted during the time thier children are being cared for by the state and FOSTER PARENTS (YAAA FOR US).

[foster_bub]

What info do you provide to the judge? I'm curious as we've never been told we could/should do that.

It's

[AmahMama]

I provide things like - childrens behaviors after visits. Stories told to children by bio family during visits. Things that family has told me that I feel is pertinant. Events that have happened during visits. Behaviors that have not been addressed. Services that have not been provided as requested.

I try to keep it to 1 page - but you can be sure it is a FULL page. The Judicial Reviews (hearings) are held EVERY 6 months so I can tell of progress as well as things that haven't changed, visits missed, stories from bio's, or events that concern me during the previous 6 months.

I document every visit - time, place, who was there (or was a no show), whether it was n/u (nothing unusual), something did happen - details. I do this also with DCM's, GAL's, licensing. Every cut, bump bruise is documented. EVERYTHING. I might be a bit anal about it but I have a friend that didn't do this and a bio complained about visits (that bio wanted to change on a daily basis) and she didn't have it documented - and she had a real hard time.

[ParadiseinFL]

Our casworker has never even informed us when a court date was.

[AmahMama]

If you don't get assertive with the cw's they won't. Unfortunately there are manhy ffamilies that don't follow up on what is going on on the legal side for the kids. I've had workers that had co-workers appear for them - no I KNOW that the co-workers never even met the child !!!! Figure that one out!