[karenw]

WE have been very lucky recently with our son's GAL. She knew him from when he entered the system 2and a half yrs ago. She changed jobs and then returned in th elast few months. CYFD has been terrible about keeping her updated, but she remembered him and his case very well. She has been to our house and has been a huge help while we fought to get him into an RTC. She went to bat for us against an agency with some unknown agenda. We feel blessed by her knowledge and determination on T's behalf.
Karen

[tybeemarie]

I should also say that although my GAL has never met my kids, she is very supportive of me as a foster parent and is interested in what I have to report. She also returns phone calls. I am lucky I have one who cares. Also, since she knows of me professionally, she knows I know how to get the kids what they need, and do so, so there isn't a need for her to litigate those things. She's been very nice.

[missw005]

Tybee,

Got a question.......

I got this in an email from a GAL for a little boy I'm looking at in Florida:

I am the Guardian ad Litem for ***, the child in Jacksonville that you have inquired about through the exchange. Our role in the dependency process is to represent the children’s best interests. Ms. K, the Family Services Counselor, told me that you had previously adopted two children through ICPC. I am very interested to hear from you and learn more about you. *** is a beautiful baby and is making a lot of progress. He is now walking and attempting to talk J Please let me know more about you and your family. Thank you!




I'm confused - is she on the committee/team that makes the actual decision if I'm to be chosen for him? I've never had a GAL that was this involved.
What's your take on this????

Sandy

[momofmykids]

I think alot of it just depends on the state, and even more on a case by case basis. This GAL sounds like GOOD one that is really looking out for this baby and that's a good thing! He/she may not be on the selection committee per se, but will make a recommendation to the committee as to which parent they should choose.

Any details on this baby? I'm excited for you...I love reading your posts and know how you want another child.

God bless.

[missw005]

He's a 1 y.o. (though I think more like an 18-20 mo. old from his picture) AA boy. I don't know much about him. When I first applied for him, I didn't hear anything and figured nothing would happen.

Then I looked again on his profile on the Florida state website and saw he was going to be placed with relatives. A month later his worker called to say the relative placement had fallen through and was I still interested? I said yes, of course, and she said she'd get back to me.

Several weeks pass, and nothing. So I call the worker back, we talk, and she says, "Oh, so I guess you really do want this baby boy." (I'm thinking, "well, duh!") So she said she'd been waiting for more homestudies to come in, but they just weren't coming. Then she said she'd talk to the supervisor about just picking me herself. Then I got the above email from his GAL and that's where we are.

I really don't know anything about him. And Florida's state website page is down, so I can't find out anything more, either. I'm not holding my breath, this is Florida, after all.

But in the same thought, I keep looking at the calendar. There are 6 weeks before school starts (and I'm off work for the summer as I'm a substitute teacher) and this would obviously be the PERFECT time for me and the boys getting another child so we'd have lots of time together! However, I took a long-term sub job for the first 6 weeks of school, so I wouldn't have time to go get him/or any child until mid-October. (unless I could go over a weekend and pick him up then). But even then, I wouldn't be able to take any major time off until mid-October.

So obviously I'm hoping if this does happen, it will (miracle of miracles) happen sometime in the next 6 weeks.

(sound of everybody chuckling, guffawing and the like.......)

On the other hand, this is Florida............
And I still have my name in for a couple other kids/sib sets.

Sooooooooooooooooo - who knows? Until then I'm just hangin' with my homeboys.......

Sandy

[jackiesbooks]

What is the deal with FL?

[tybeemarie]

My first reaction is that Florida is the worst of the worst in terms of child welfare, everything seems crazy there to me, and the way they do things, who knows what role the GAL plays! If they treat the GAL as an attorney who is representing the child's best interests, then the GAL would gather information about her client, his environment, his needs, his history, etc. The GAL would then evaluate all this information, come to a conclusion about what is in this child's best interests, and present her argument to the committee, either formally in an administrative capacity, or informally by calling someone and telling them her preferences. Another possibility is that she is preparing for the permanency hearing, which here in IL takes place in court, so she would present her arguments to a hearing officer or judge. Talking to prospective placements seems to me to be a very responsible thing to do. None of my cases had such a situation--the kids were all adopted by their foster parents.

I would take heart from this letter. It shows an appropriate interest in potential placements for her client. It shows she knows something about her client, and that she has done a little looking into you. This could be such a blessing! I have no doubt that this lawyer will love you. You are an awesome mom with a great attitude, always full of good humor in difficult situations--a key to special needs parenting, and a skill I would do well to imitate! This lawyer could make Florida's outrageous child welfare system MOVE, and maybe you could get your baby soon! A large part of a child welfare lawyer's job is to make the lives of bureaucrats miserable until they do the right thing. Sort of kidding--I actually had very good relationships with some social workers and therapists. The incompetent people--well, let's just say they weren't sending me Christmas cards! BUT, they did move more quickly, if for no other reason than to get me out of their lives. This attorney could be the insufferable pest that this baby needs! I am excited for you! Keep us posted!

[missw005]

So the GAL emailed me later this morning, and here's what she said:

Thank you so much for your e-mail. You sound like you have a wonderful family. I am sure *** would fit right in! Make sure that you work closely with Ms. K to get this thing moving as quickly as possible. If necessary, are you able to come to Jacksonville to visit with ***?

I appreciate all you are doing for these children. The world needs more people like you J Please let me know if anything comes up along the way that I can assist you with. I would love to see *** adopted into such a loving home.

Sooooooo...
After I got this, I started making some calls. My first problem is that I still don't know much about this child, and the FL state website is still down. I started calling, and finally got the FL adoption office info. Then I found out *** has hypertonia, usually a symptom/complication of CP, but as he's walking I'm assuming he's got mild CP. He goes to PT for that, which is good, because that usually means the child is Title IV-E, which will help with medical issues/bills. And it makes it easier to transfer the insurance across state lines.

Then his Ms. K (his SW) called, very briefly, to say they were in court yesterday (didn't quite get for what, but it was about him) and judge agrees that although my timeline is tight, he's willing to do whatever needed to make that happen. Now I'm just waiting for her to call back - as it's after 4 here (and after 6 pm there), I'm assuming she'll call back Monday. She was still waiting for final approval from her agency's director.

So then the bomb-dropper: could we all come to visit in 2 weeks? Assuming everything went through??? Luckily I didn't give much of an answer, though I really wanted to say yes.....and she had to go before we could really talk about it more.
Here's the thing: My agency charges $1,900 in fees, there will be legal/court costs btwn. $700-900, and we'll eventually have to travel down there as a family to pick *** up, get to know him and do legal paperwork/whatnot. Even with fare sales, that will easily be $800-1000 for the 3 of us. And now they want an additional visitation trip?????
I've paid $800 for the out-of-state fees to my agency, but will owe $1,100 more on placement. The legal fees won't come for at least 3-6 months. But two trips across the country in less than 2 months? I don't know. That's a lot of money, and yes, I'll get it somehow if I need to. But am I being too difficult if I say no to the visit? I mean, *** isn't even 2 yet. I didn't have a visit with Q before I picked him up (we had 5 days to transition/visit - he was living with me by the 2nd day!!!) I can see multiple visits with older children, but with these little guys.........it would be nice, but honestly I'm not too sure it's absolutely necessary.

That and FL only reimburses $1,000 for adoption expenses. (no, I don't qualify for the $10,000 govt. deal with my lower income) So most of this is out of pocket. And I'm still waiting for the adoption reimbursement on Q - I'm assuming like most of you with multiple adoptions, you use the reimbursement from the last child to pay the fees and such on the next child.

What do you guys think????????

Sandy

PS - And of course, my SW has no clue this is going on. Hasn't replied to my emails or phone messages.
Don't get me started on how I found *** myself, made calls to his SW to help her get to know me/my family which will likely end in our family being selected, made the photo pages, emailed regularly, am now dealing with his GAL..................and I'm paying the $1,900 for what??????????

[jackiesbooks]

Okay Missw005 - What is happening? I had very busy weekend. Are you going for a visit?

[missw005]

We just got back from a 3-day roadtrip to Wisconsin. Visited my college roommate and her two boys. Four boys aged 3-7!!!!!! Very, very busy.

Here's the scoop:

This is not going to happen, unfortunately. This is part of the email I received from my SW yesterday:

we had a staff meeting today and discussed INTERSTATE
I learned that FLorida does not have contract with private agencies for
placement fees (or have a purchase of service)
therefore you would be paying the placement/postplacement fee
or approx $1500

And apparently there would be "other" additional fees as well.
Unfortunately, this is beyond my financial reach. As I wrote earlier, I still have to pay for: $1100 to my agency for a "placement fee"; travel costs (air, hotel, car, meals, etc.) to pick up child(ren); court/legal fees when adoption/finalization finally occurs; etc.
I just can't add on ANOTHER $1500.

So.............so much for that idea. That and his SW sent me this message the same day:

My supervisor and I have been in conference and I have learned the process is a bit more involved that I had initially understood. We are presently reviewing all the adoption home studies of those expressing interest in ***. The way the process works is that three or four of us, including myself and my supervisor, need to review all the applicants and determine which applicant might be considered the best match for ***, which might be second, etc. Then the assessments of we reviewers will be combined to determine the overall best match, the second best match, etc. I have reviewed the applicants, rated them in order of best fit for ***, and I have passed the packet of applicants on to my supervisor. After he completes his assessment he will pass the packet on to the one or two other persons on the staff for their assessments.

Apparently his SW (and the GAL) were jumping the gun on talking visitation as the supervisors and the team haven't even made a final decision yet for the adoptive family!!!

So, again, it's just not going to work. (sigh) I should have known it was too fast and too good to be true. And honestly, there were other issues. For example, I knew very little about this little guy. No bio, current medical report, etc.

I think we were all jumping the gun. Lesson learned.

Back to the photolistings.........

Sandy

[tybeemarie]

Sorry to hear the disappointing news. This process is just grueling and heart-breaking and demoralizing. I always admire how you approach these difficult situations with common sense and good humor. You're a great mom!

[bjhv5]

WOW I did not expect this kind of response!!!

It is funny you talk about Jacksonville Fl-That is where I am from!!!!!! And so far the system is soso.
We know that there is a court date of Aug.2 for our 2yo J the case worker is not sure what it is for so we are just wondering what is going on.We will be there though so we can see first hand what is said and done!
I am sorry you had such a time MISSW005 I have inquired about several children on www.fssnf.org web site and most of the time we hear that they are already placed but some times we just do not get ananswer at all.


Deb
bio mom to a 17,13,12
fmom to 2yo,1 yo
Ps as for the siblings we still do not know if they will let us get the girls or not we are waiting to hear.Mom was in labor last night ( I work at the hospital she is delivering at) the baby is 6 weeks early and 99% sure has downs.