[imadeeva]

I recently wrote about our termination hearing being postponed. Well, the caseworker is not longer with CPS. Can anyone tell me what happens when the case is going to termination, and the caseworker is no longer on the case? There's a new caseworker.

[TexasJingles]

Oh yuk!

Weeeelllllllll, hopefully the former cwr kept good records and had a good filing system. Did you happen to keep a copy of anything you turned into them? I know I had weekly, monthly and quarterly reports to turn in, and I learned to make copies of them before turning them in because somehow they'd get misplaced (or I'd get accused of not turning them in). This is also why I kept a diary of sorts so I could refresh my memory (like I said, I didn't do this at 1st, I had to learn along the way).

The child will be assigned another worker, who will either be brand new and not know anything (oh joy!) or someone with a desk full of cases already. Or, and this happened to us with the agency, not CPS, they will come from another office or area and say things that make you go "huh?" We did a lot of teaching, and our change happened right after signing adoption placement papers but before court to finalize. I had a lot of questions, or situations arise that she just didn't know the answers to, or even who to refer us to.

As far as the postponement, there may be another one. Don't worry, but do keep good records because the next worker might see things differently (because they haven't got all the facts in front of them or something).

Do you have a CASA or does the child have a ... oh what is that word .... GAL? A lawyer? From what I understand, these people are assigned to the case and stay with the child(ren) until it's over (at least ours did, but I didn't know her until the adoption process was underway). She did keep up with what was going on with the kids through the reports and stuff though.

If you know, or can find out the GAL, see if you can contact them and find out from them what the progress of the case is (just say you have the best interest of the child at heart and with a CPS change you just want to make sure the case doesn't fall through the cracks).

Just be careful not to push the word adoption just yet since TPR hasn't happened yet. I've heard some horror stories around here about fp's that stated "I want to adopt" instead of "I'd be interested in adopting IF this child isn't reunited" and the whole case goes sour.

I pray that everything works out and you get a wonderful new CPS worker, who keeps things on track. Hang in there!