[wife2grumpy]

Since Oct 19 I have been emailing and calling my worker, to have home visits stopped. My niece has not complied with 1 court order in 9 months.. The rule for her to visit in my home was she had to comply to court orders or they would stop home visits. FAT CHANCE!!
ok finally I got mad, and drove the 30 min dr out to the office to talk to the worker. Lucky me got her and she promised that she would come out that FRiday. She was a no show.. many emails and phone calls later, Nov. 30th she calls me back, and promises to be her today to tell my niece no more home visits.. Please know there are very good reasons for this, and something that happened today. She didn't call or show again. I called her office, and left her a message, then I called her superviosr 45 mins later because of what happened today, and because my worker failed me yet again.
her supervisor said she was in the office and she will have her call me.. Thats what I was told a month ago.
please tell me what to do?

[Boulderbabe]

Write a letter detailing what you've said here. Be specific about what the court has ordered, and what your neice has or has not accomplished. Quote verbatim from the court order where it says that visits will be stopped if your neice does not comply with her treatment plan. Say flat out that you request that visitation be stopped, and that from this Friday on, you will no longer hold visits in your home.

Then send the letter registered mail, return receipt requested. Make sure the social worker has to sign for it personally. Send copies to the social worker's supervisor, the GAL and your niece's attorney, and send those return receipt requested as well.


Good luck!

[Bailey071097]

I have had to go even higher than the supervisor before. Find out the next higher level and copy them on the certified letter!! Go as high as necessary until you get an answer. In Texas they have an Ombudsman's office that will investigate complaints about the department. That is the LAST thing CPS wants to see and they really get chewed out for it. Find out if you have something similar in your state!

[wife2grumpy]

Hello
so sorry it took me forever to get back.. A week ago ((tomorrow) Foster care was going to be here, and my niece bailed out on the vist. My niece called and said that she wanted to come the following day. I said we needed to call the worker.. Long story short. She talked to the worker and the case worker told her that her home visits are now stopped. Ahe threw a screaming fit on the worker, and cussed her out. At that point, the case qorker told her she had 4 months to get her act together or she wil file for TPR.
She has no job, no place to live because she jumps from friends house to friends house every 4 to 6 weeks.
The worker and I talked in great lengths, and she got all of my nieces referals ready again for her to pick up and an added bonus of a 47 bus fare card.
My niece showed up at my door tuesday and I told her to leave her visists are at foster care now. I told her it is noon, got to the office and get your referals, I even gave her the money to go. She never went, and she never called foster care.
Will she file TPR at the next hearing, so they are terminated on the 12th month, or will we have to go to court a second time 3 months later so we can all hear mom is still not compling?

[straightblues]

I is very unlikely that they will TPR at the next court date. At the next court date the judge will tell your niece that they will have a TPR hearing in 2 or 3 months. This will allow your niece enough time to put her defense together. At that hearing, the judge will hear you nieces arguments as to why the court shouldn't terminate her. In addition to a good argument, you niece will also have to prove that she is ready to get the children back including a way to support them and adequate housing for them. From all you are telling us, that seems unlikely. After the TPR your niece will likely appeal it. The appeal takes another 5 to 8 months. It is also not unusual for TPR hearings to be contiued several times do to legal technicalities. Mine was continued three times because the fathers paternity was unclear.

[Kristin7]

Straightblues
During these appeals from the TPR, are visits continued? Are appeals ever won or are the original decisions usually upheld?

This is the course that my foster situation is headed and I just need to have an idea of what to expect.

Thanks
K.

[AmahMama]

Most of the time visits are DONE at the time of tpr. I've had some children waiting for the appeal to come back before they could go to adoption (really stupid but they were tpr'd before they came to my home) and never had a visit.

Only my experience but I've heard of others that drag out visits forever. IMO that does much more harm than good. If bios can't get their stuff together during the time allowed, they should lose ALL rights - flat out - totally.

[wife2grumpy]

wow... I had no idea that it can take another 5 to 8 months. As of Friday the 15th, when I took the baby to fostercare to visit bio mom, The worker and I was talking and she said that she was going to tell them that she wants to file a TPR. His dad never established paternity. He was told in April he had 14 days, and it never got done. July 18th his vists were suspended. He then went to Jail for Domestic violence against mom. I still need to find out if he will be facing charges for the child abuse and child abandonment charges in April.
Personally, if mom has had since 3/7 to comply, and it was court ordered in April. She should not have any visits, and the TPR should go thru with out any problems. HOwever, it isn't going to be that easy, is it?
I think you are right having visits knowing they are going to TPR is hard.

[jackiesbooks]

You are right visits when you know TPR is scheduled is very hard. MY son was in care 2 years Oct 1st. Our TPR date is April 10th. He really believes that he will be with us forever, but he will see Mom and Grandmom every Monday.

[straightblues]

Originally Posted by Kristin7

Straightblues
During these appeals from the TPR, are visits continued? Are appeals ever won or are the original decisions usually upheld?

This is the course that my foster situation is headed and I just need to have an idea of what to expect.

Thanks
K.

With all legal issues there are never 100% answers. But this is what is typical. The TPR terminates ALL of the parents rights. Therefore, they are no longer legally the childs parents, the state or county is. Therefore all visits and contact of any kind will stop. During the appeal visits and contact are typically not restored.

The numbers I have heard regarding appeals is 95% of parents appeal and 99% loose.

[ingi]

So when they appeal it just delays the eventual adoption.
Do they loose for the same reasons they lost in the first place?
Lack of meeting case plan?

[Kate1129]

Originally Posted by ingi

So when they appeal it just delays the eventual adoption.
Do they loose for the same reasons they lost in the first place?
Lack of meeting case plan?

Pretty much. The appeal court will look at the evidence presented by both sides and decide. Most of the time the appeal court sees that bmom/bdad had ample opportunity to get the kids back and didn't do it. Generally the TPR us upheld. However the whole process can take a while!

My kids have been in care for bearly 2 years. We finally got a date for the appeal trial as February. So by the time adoption happens, well my kids will have been with me for 3 years.

[AmahMama]

Appeals is to look to see if DCF and the jude followed the rules. If they didn't, the judgement can be overturned. If all the rules were followed, the parents given ample time and opportunity to complete case plans, and opportunities to visit were given.

If all of this was done - technically - there would be no reason for anything to be overturned on appeal.

At least this is what I understand the appeals process to be for.

[LeighM]

I think I would pick up the phone and call the GAL regarding your case. Your cw has proven to you that she does not always do what she says she will do. For your own piece of mind you need to know if the rest of the team agrees with going forward with TPR. In MO they usually go from RU to Concurrent plan which is RU and TPR, then later the move to just TPR/ Adoption.

I know in our case it did take 11 months from the point we filed for TPR/adoption to actually getting to court for the TPR. The process was , Judge hearing the case to file for TPR, Pre-trial court, one court date for TPR was rescheduled and then finally the trial. The day we went to court was actually the third anniversary for S brother being into care. S is one year younger than her brother but the trial covered both the children.

[Hadley2]

In Virginia, the first appeal after a family court TPR is a de novo appeal in Circuit Court. The CC has all the same powers as the family court and hears the entire case as if for the first time ("de novo"). It can affirm, remand, vacate, order a new year-long case plan, even return the child to the parents.

We are told that, at least in the county with which we are dealing, the CC almost never affirms; it is more likely to remand the case back to family court with a new case plan but has also been known to overturn and return the child. In that case, the state can appeal to the Appeals Court. The appeals court does not hear cases de novo, but rules on, as a pp said, whether or not the courts followed correct procedures and the evidence could reasonably support the prior court's ruling.

I believe this procedure is unusual among the states.