[loveajax]

A friend of mine who has been fostering a little boy for over a year now whose birth mom signed TPR (is that the right term?) found out yesterday that the potential birth father (2 others named by birth mom turned out not to be birth father) has said that if he is bio dad he wants custody of child. Apparently, he is a convict and has 2 other children that are being raised by his mom in another state.

Friend was told it will take 3 months (!) to get DNA testing done. If this man is the bio father, is that the end of the story? In other words, if he wants to take custody of this little boy, will he automatically be able to? I don't know enough about this stuff. I presume that he would be able to because there is no "reason" why he cannot, right? I feel really sad for my friend right now.

[scandi]

In my state where I am a child protection worker if I had this same situation on my case load - the "dad" would get a case plan to complete to show that he can and does want to parent his child. We also have statutes in my state that say relatives be looked for and evaluated for perm. placement of the children. If the dad did not complete his case plan and his mother is a viable option to raise this child - in my state we would likely place with the grandmother. Since mom is already TPR, she has no say in this. However, we would also look to her relatives as well.

Just my experiences in my state
scandi

[loveajax]

Thank you, Scandi. This is so tough for her!

[jigger]

So, in Texas, once the man was identified by DNA as the birthfather, he would have one year to work a case plan. Case plans usually include things like having stable housing and employment, drug tests, counseling, etc. There would be a court hearing every few months to check his progress. Depending on how well he was doing on his case plan, they may or may not begin to consider TPR (termination of parental rights) for the father. If TPR becomes the goal, there is a "final" hearing set to actually do the TPR. After that, he will have 30 days to appeal the TPR decision. If he DOES work his case plan, the goal for the child could change to reunification. The court can reunify once they feel he is able to take care of the child. In Texas, your friend would have some legal rights since the child has been with her for a year. She could hire a lawyer to advocate for her in court. Also, if the birthfather was planning to have his mother keep the child, the state would require that a homestudy be performed on her. Hope this helps. Having been through this, I know it is not easy. I'll keep you friend in my thoughts. . .

[loveajax]

Thanks, Jigger...that really helps. I wish I knew what I could do to help her. I am sorry, but I just can't help but hope that the DNA shows that this guys is NOT the birth father.

I am sorry you had to deal with this kind of stuff too...