[mommom]

A friend has had her Fs since birth - 14 months now. Parental visits have been sporadic and now have ceased. The Fm has had a run in with one of the cw involved who told her'she had the power' over this child's life. the Fm has always maintained she would like to adopt. Now she has been told that an aunt on another island wants to adopt the baby boy. The aunt has never seen the child. She does however have two of his siblings - and has had for more than two years with no move towards adoption. the siblings have not seen their brother. The Fm has been told there is nothing she can do - to get ready to relinguish the child to these stranger relations. She is, of course, heartbroken. Has anyone here had a situation like this...any advise? TIA

[leaabc123]

I am going through something similar right now. We have had fson for 4 months, he is 7 months old.
Relative left him in court after being denied full legal custody that day. She had 3 of the other siblings but 2 are now with other people.
Both her and 2 other relatives said they did not want fson. We said from beginning we would be willing to adopt if he was freed. He physically resembles my partner and other family members and also fits in really well.
Well, now that the holidays are coming, these relatives have changed their minds and have filed for custody. We have been trhough 3 weeks of delays and are told that he will probably be leaving next week.
It doesn't matter that he was abandoned in court. It doesn't matter that he spent more time with the visitation worker than with family members during scheduled visits because they didn't show up. All that matters is that relatives want him back and that they have the siblings.
His law guardian will not be present and SW'r said the judge almost always favors family members, regardless of the situation.
We know that if fson does return, he will be exposed to bio-mom, who continues to have drug/alcohol issues, as well as health problems that she refuses to seek treatment for. We know (from prior history) that fson will likely get moved from relative to relative when it gets to hard to take care of him but it does not matter.
i wish your friend luck but the system is set up to favor relatives and birth parents, instead of honestly looking at the child's best interests.