[liveurlife]

My 16 yr old FD has a JR hearing coming up. She has been with us since July and has been thriving in our home.
Like so many of the children in care her story is very complicated. Her two younger siblings are in another foster home and her older brother was just released from jail.
Mom has been working her case plan to the best of her ability. She has missed several visits, tested positive a few times and missed several of her classes.
Our FD is really angry at Mom and does not want contact and refuses to go to visits. I have supervised several. The issue is that her mother has no boundaries and talks about all of the families problems and her inability to work her case plan. DCF has had reports on this family ten times over the years.
I know that at the next court date the DCF is going to approve unsupervised visits. So in three more months the children will RU.
Her siblings want to return.She does not want to go back. She shuts down any time I mention contacting her family. GAL is so backed up that she will not get one.
Her CW is talking about having her get a job and working on emancipation. She is finally able to catch up on her school work her GPA is up and she has made up two classes and has two more to make up she is earning A's in four classes and participating in after school sports for the first time ever. I do not want encourage her to go work at a fast food restaurant because the system is going to fail her! I hate to see her lose the resources available to her is she ages out of FC.
I always attend court and the CW has requested she attend this time. I do not want to coach her but guide to speak up for what she wants.

I am worried and frustrated any advise would be helpful

[RobinKay]

Originally Posted by liveurlife

My 16 yr old FD has a JR hearing coming up. She has been with us since July and has been thriving in our home.
Like so many of the children in care her story is very complicated. Her two younger siblings are in another foster home and her older brother was just released from jail.
Mom has been working her case plan to the best of her ability. She has missed several visits, tested positive a few times and missed several of her classes.
Our FD is really angry at Mom and does not want contact and refuses to go to visits. I have supervised several. The issue is that her mother has no boundaries and talks about all of the families problems and her inability to work her case plan. DCF has had reports on this family ten times over the years.
I know that at the next court date the DCF is going to approve unsupervised visits. So in three more months the children will RU.
Her siblings want to return.She does not want to go back. She shuts down any time I mention contacting her family. GAL is so backed up that she will not get one.
Her CW is talking about having her get a job and working on emancipation. She is finally able to catch up on her school work her GPA is up and she has made up two classes and has two more to make up she is earning A's in four classes and participating in after school sports for the first time ever. I do not want encourage her to go work at a fast food restaurant because the system is going to fail her! I hate to see her lose the resources available to her is she ages out of FC.
I always attend court and the CW has requested she attend this time. I do not want to coach her but guide to speak up for what she wants.

I am worried and frustrated any advise would be helpful

You don't have to tell her what to say, but you can encourage her to speak up for herself in court. My ds's sister aged out of the system-was 16 when taken into foster care. She lived with one foster family, then a friend from high school let her live with them--separated from her little brother.

The judge let sister have a private talk before court began--perhaps this young lady will also have that opportunity.

She will likely be nervous--perhaps you could suggest she write down what she wants to say to the judge so she won't forget anything. Suggest she stick to facts regarding her life now--that she has good grades, is participating in sports, etc.

I hope this young lady stays with you. It sounds like she will become the primary caregiver if all the kids go back to mom instead of growing up into an independent, productive adult.

Let us hear how it goes-