[jeavesmom]

I am in Alabama ,Do I did to contact an Lawyer ? Little background, We are not licensed foster parents but we do have legal guardianship over our 2 little ones through DHR ,We have had them one year but they have lived with us before DhR came involve. We are the only family and home our 1 year has ever knowed and our 2 year . What I want to know is what laws there are . BMom works plan right before court but not much any other time . She has No bond with kids and makes no attempt to have one . Our 2 year old has Autism and development delays ,he does speech and Ot Therapy ,they both were prenatal exposed to drugs .
Is it time we step this up ,is there more we can do . We want to keep our little ones .

[Withay]

I don't really understand why you didn't have to become licensed fp, even though the kids lived with you prior to DHR became involved.

How did they come to live with you?

Why did DHR become involved after the kids were living with you?

Are they the children of a relative, in which case you are kinship caretakers?

Does mom have a caseplan with DHR?

Do the children have a DHR caseworker?

The answers to the above questions would help to clarify so members here can give you better advice.

Something just doesn't sound quite right. If DHR is involved then they are the ones who should be calling the shots.

[jeavesmom]

Let me see how I can answer these questions, The kids aunt is married to my husbands nephew ,they lived with us and the 2 year old was dropped off with them when he was 4 months old ,they could not really care for him so we cared for him for about 6 months,(our mistake we did not get DHR involved then ) Parents came back and took him ,they had him for 3 months in which they had a little girl . Well they ended up homeless aging so we took them all in ,to help them out . They ended up just up an leaving Jan 2 2008 ,and we got DHR involved. The Dad is not in the picture any more , due to the fact that he has many warranty out for him and he does not want to come to court to get tested to see if he really is the father.
They do have a caseworker but getting any answers from her is like pulling teeth.

[CaddoRose]

If the state is involved the kids should have an attorney and possible a GAL(Guardian ad Liteum). If your CW isn't giving you any answers, then you need to go to her supervisor and find out what is going on here. You have had them long enough that the state should be doing TPR on the parents. That can still take a long time.

If necessary go to the DHR office and get some answers. Has a CW ever come out to visit them? If not, something isn't right with what is going on. They should at least visit once in a while and talk to you about the progress of the kids. It's possible that since you aren't a licensed foster parent, that DHR is just letting you keep them as a relative placement without them ever having the safety of being adopted by you. In other words, since you are not pushing for anything to happen, they aren't either.

[Withay]

IMO you need to get yourselves licensed as foster parents. Without that DHR doesn't have to pay a monthly stipend that would help you purchase things that the kids need (ie: diapers, milk, etc.).

You also need to, as CaddoRose said, contact the cw supervisor to find out what is happening. I would also contact the children's GAL/atty. Find out when the next hearing is and go to that. Go to every hearing or meeting regarding these kids. It is at them that you will find out a lot more of what is happening.

If you haven't yet, start documenting everything, starting at the beginning and going through now. Continue to document everything that you learn about the case from this point on. This includes every phone call (and attempted calls), every email and every contact with anyone regarding the kids.

[jeavesmom]

We have been to the court and I do document everything, I guess I am just to the point that their seems to be no end in sight . Is there something we can do ? I do not know the laws in Alabama so I am not sure . All of our 2 years old thearpist ,and even a psycholgoist has written that him being with us a helped him and that it could cause harm for him if removed . He has mixed deveoplental delays and is on the Autism Spectrum.

[jeavesmom]

How do I find out the laws about this stuff ? Kids being in care for 15 months and such ,I have looked but just not sure what I am searching for