[jen1mac]

We adopted our fd last Oct. when she was 16 months old. The very next month we got her birthsister who we have had for almost a year now. The birthparents have done nothing to try and get her back, no treatment, no visits, nothing except go to jail. They just had the first termination hearing but had to reschedule because they couldn't find dad who is in jail to serve him. Shouldn't it be done by now if they both have done nothing to prove themselves? Can I do anything to speed it up?

[musemoon]

We had the same thing happen. And they just do it to make sure that when the father gets out of jail he doesn't contest your adoption, saying he was never properly served. At this point you are just waiting on paperwork. If in fact there have been no visits, no attempts to reunify, then the bparents don't have a case, the court is just doing their follow up to make sure no one shows up in the end. If a bfather (especially a father) was not served properly, he may claim that he didn't know his rights were being terminated and have a good case to get the child back, if not make the wait longer for you. So if you can just get through these last few months, you will know that it is almost over :-)

[jen1mac]

How long was it for you? The dad has been contacted numerous times but a lot of times he just chooses not to respond. He is in for a really long time. Isn't there a way to make sure he gets the papers seeing that he is in jail and can't go any where. With our first daughter it was so much easier because we didn't know dad and mom liked us and relinquished.

[straightblues]

Unfortunately you can't make it go faster. The judge must follow the law. The good news is by law they have to have a permenant plan for the child by 18 months. Usually they wait a year and then proceed with the TPR unless the parents are really on track to get the child back. The last thing you want is to have the Fathers rights violated.

[pugsooie]

I live in Arkansas and neither of my birthparents showed up to our foster daughters TPR, but they considered that a voluntary TPR since they didn't show and proceeded anyway.