[Shaylas_Mom]

Hello all! I am wondering if anyone can tell me at what point do foster parents have rights to fight for custody, (if ever.) At what point is it in the child's best interest to stay. Can we hire an attorney to help us? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[RobinKay]

Originally Posted by Shaylas_Mom

Hello all! I am wondering if anyone can tell me at what point do foster parents have rights to fight for custody, (if ever.) At what point is it in the child's best interest to stay. Can we hire an attorney to help us? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

People feel pretty strongly about this topic on these forums. You will likely get some lively responses. This thread may give you some idea--

Reunification with relatives-share your story or thoughts

[Hadley2]

If you are interested in what actually happens as opposed to peoples' opinions, you would need to look up your particular state's laws on these questions. As for fp rights, you would be looking for references to intervenor status, de facto parent status, person with a legitimate interest, that kind of thing. The labels and definitions are not universal. Some states do not have any path to becoming a party to the custody case. Best interest definitions and placement with relatives information for every state are fairly easy to find on childwelfare.gov. In addition to your state's laws, your social services agency probably has a foster care manual that will tell you more about how agencies actually approach cases. Finally, each county/district court can have its own way of doing things...not all follow all statutes as written.

Federal law is a good guideline, many states and courts follow it, but it doesn't have much teeth. Federal law does not allow for or disallow fps to become party to cases, but it does require fps be given notice and opportunity to attend all hearings. Some courts do not apply that to adjudication or TPR, IDK why, maybe because those are actual trials of the parents, not hearings about the children.

When we accepted our fc, who was also our niece, we had to sign a placement agreement that said we would, as foster parents, cooperate in all social service agency decisions about the child, including return. As fps, we were barred from having standing in court. As relatives, however, we could have filed with the court as "persons with a legitimate interest."

[Shaylas_Mom]

Thanks so much for the info! I will try to search it out.

[Happy_Cat]

I am in GA and the first thing my lawyer told me when we talked to him is to always remember, "Foster parents have no rights." That being said, there are many cases when children will stay with foster parents instead of blood family and many cases where going to relatives is in their best interest. As a general rule, I believe blood family comes first. I also say that as I fight a bio-relative for the right to adopt my two kiddos. Consult a lawyer and see if you have a case. My understanding is that they will generally tell you if they think you do or do not have a case. Best of luck. Kids best interest first!

[CaddoRose]

If you have had a child for more than 6 months it is worth a talk with an attorney just to find out what could happen. Each case and state are so different that there can be many ways a case can go. In my book, it's always a good call to at least talk to an attorney because they will know what the laws are.

[mamachell]

Shaylas_Mom,

This is also something I've been wondering about too. We are parties to the case and have had our fd about 11 months. I felt that I was really trying to make it past the 6 month mark because I thought it would give us more standing (bonding, stability, etc) but now I find myself really trying to make it to the year mark.

I'm wondering if any other foster/fost-adopt parents have any idea what seems to be the "tipping point" where fp's seem to have more standing that biofamily? 1 year, 2 years? Never?

[Shaylas_Mom]

Can your GAL give you any advice. We are getting really frusterated. We got our FD when she was 3 weeks old. Her bio mom voluntarily surrendered rights on her first one about a year before. At first mom and dad both said they didn't want her but then when they get back together think they need a family. These are the worst parents I have had to deal with and we have had a lot of foster kids. There is bi polar disorder, over 40 counts of domestic violence, repeated arrests, physical child abuse charges, registered sex offenders and on and on and on! The only family willing to adopt her had to be convinced to take her and mom has admitted that they molested her as a child but for the homestudy recanted and said it must have been someone else and she was confused. Now mom has been arrested again which is a violation of her case plan and DFS is going to bump up visitations to unsupervised as soon as she gets out they said this will just be a warning! The whole situation is redicullous! We are about a month away from our permanacy hearing and I am freaking out! I know if she goes home that she will be right back in foster care, but I can't stand the thought of something happening to her for that to happen. I don't know what to do. What kind of lawyers deal with this kind of stuff?

[Boulderbabe]

The sad news is that this is not a contest between fparents and bparents. The question is not "who is the better parent here?" Of course, it's the fparents. But bparents don't need to be better than the foster family in order to get their kids back. All they need to do is make it over the bar where the kids are considered safe from abuse or neglect.

As one of my social workers once said, "that's a pretty low bar."

[Yash]

Originally Posted by Shaylas_Mom

Can your GAL give you any advice. We are getting really frusterated. We got our FD when she was 3 weeks old. Her bio mom voluntarily surrendered rights on her first one about a year before. At first mom and dad both said they didn't want her but then when they get back together think they need a family. These are the worst parents I have had to deal with and we have had a lot of foster kids. There is bi polar disorder, over 40 counts of domestic violence, repeated arrests, physical child abuse charges, registered sex offenders and on and on and on! The only family willing to adopt her had to be convinced to take her and mom has admitted that they molested her as a child but for the homestudy recanted and said it must have been someone else and she was confused. Now mom has been arrested again which is a violation of her case plan and DFS is going to bump up visitations to unsupervised as soon as she gets out they said this will just be a warning! The whole situation is redicullous! We are about a month away from our permanacy hearing and I am freaking out! I know if she goes home that she will be right back in foster care, but I can't stand the thought of something happening to her for that to happen. I don't know what to do. What kind of lawyers deal with this kind of stuff?

Have you talked to the baby's LAWYER? If you want to consult with a lawyer, you need to find one that specializes in foster care. If your state allows fost/adopt parents hire private lawyers to finalize, I would start with one of them.