[mommacass]

K goes to a pre-placement visit this coming weekend and we were not going to continue to foster or adopt. My mom told me on Saturday that my nieces maternal grandmother ( who she has been living with for sometime now) is going to sell her house and move to Georgia. My niece does not want to go, she wants to live with us. She is only a week older than my son (10yrs). CPS got involved with her over a year ago. The only thing I know is that they told her gma that she was not to be alone with bmom and gave bmom some things to do (rehab & counsling). They were never done and nobody has ever come back to check on my niece.
Now I am wondering what I should do. Should I call CPS, cw, my agency, .... Or should I just let her move in and shut down like I planned on it? I would really like to get my niece some counsling. H E L P

mommacass

[Withay]

I would definitely call and talk with CPS. As a foster child, your niece would be entitled to many services that she may not be able to get otherwise. As a foster parent you should not be required to pay for all the counseling she may need.

At the very least, you might be able to find out why the local CPS office never followed up on your niece after placing her with the grandparent. They are, after all required by law to follow-up. Someone has truly dropped the ball in this case, it would appear.

[mommacass]

I talked to the gma today and she said that at this point CPS is not involved, she did say that she has Power of Attorney and she doesn't know how sign that over to us. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

Oh, my niece was never actually a foster child, they just came out and told gma a few rules and left my niece M in gma's care. I guess it was just kinship care.

mommacass

[Withay]

In that case you may want to contact an atty who specializes in child welfare cases and ask their advice. It sounds like the local CPS office set it up as kinship care rather than foster care, a move frequently done to avoid the expense of foster care. Good luck.

[ranoutofnames]

I know in my state (and several others) the only person who can grant decision making of their child to another person is the legal parent. Eventhough gma has POA that doesn't mean she has the right to sign her POA over to another person... likely the bmom will need to be located and have her sign over POA or you'll need to petition the courts to get Guardianship.

Good luck. Sounds like you may want to contact Legal Services in your area. If you don't have the money to hire an attorney you may be able to get advice and assistance through Legal Services. Every state has something like this. There are federal grant monies specifically ear marked for it.

[Tudu]

I am in GA, I had LG of my former fd's child. When we switched it to her aunt all we did was have the parents listed onthe BC sign a form we got from the Probate Court and they went and filed in a different county. Call the courts see what they say.

[allforone]

I am just curious who came out and told grandma some rules and left the child? I know in my state, and I did kinship care, that cps was involved. They were involved with my now ason, who was never technically in foster care, clear up until we completed the adoption over a year later.
If you are able to get custody then I would definatly contact a lawyer. One who has done this before and see what needed to be done.
In no way should you just sit back and allow the mom to be able to have free reign again until she has completed her rehab and gotten her act together.
Always do what is best for the child. Good luck.

[mommacass]

It was a cw from what I understand. I guess since she was already with the gma they didn't put her into the system. That way they wouldn't have to pay out any money.

MommaCass

[athikers]

I would suggest you pursue trying to become niece's foster placement rather than kinship placement. I believe it gives you much more support, finacially and in general and will be a better option long term.

[hkolln]

I agree with everyone here...regarding becoming her foster parent and opposed to her legal guardian. In legal guardianship you'd be responsible for all her therapy and anything financial relating to her. If she's a foster child she should have more services available to her thru the agency.