Possible developments soon! And the surprises of foster care

We have a court date on March 22 for G and Z's case. I have been told that some important things will be asked of the judge, especially for Z. I will have to wait until after court to share all the juicy details, but we are anxiously looking forward to court that day.
As far as W goes, his mom now has unsupervised visits with him, again. We are supposed to have another family team meeting in a couple of weeks to discuss increasing the visits. I'm not sure if the caseworker will give her overnight visits at that point or just longer visis, but either way, W's mom is moving in a positive direction.
Being a foster parent has forced Nathan and I to do so many things that are not only out of our comfort zone, but things we never in a million years would have seen ourselves doing. First of all, we went into this with the intention to adopt. We did not want a foster placement. We did not want to take our kids to visits with their parents. If fact, we didn't really want to have to have any contact with the biological parents. We wanted to get our kids, love them, and become a happy family. It's funny sometimes how things work out, isn't it? Not only do we currently have 3 boys as foster placements, but we have developed relationships with their parents.
As far as G and Z's mom goes, I will say I am glad I got to know her, so that one day when I am asked "what was my mom like?" I will be able to answer (because I do believe at least one of these boys will be in our family forever, more about that after that all important upcoming court date). But that is probably the only reason I have been glad to know that woman. All I can really say about her right now is, I hope she realizes that she is not a person who can be a mother (and I hope that realization happens sooner rather than later).
W's mom has been a whole other situation, much to our surprise. When we got W, we were told that his mom had a history with DCS which had resulted in her losing her parental rights to her other child. She had a history of letting abusive boyfriends into her life, plus there were substance abuse issues. If ever there was a foster placement that would end in adoption, this seemed like the one. We went into this, knowing it wasn't for sure, but very confident W would be with us forever. Then, after the first two court hearings, where visitation was denied, we were even more sure of things. Up to that point, we had not met the mom. I wasn't really interested in meeting her. I was just hoping history would repeat itself and the judge would keep denying visitation until we had reached the 6 month mark and rights were terminated. But then, we did meet her.
The caseworker had called and let us know there was a court date coming up and we needed to be there. We waited in the waiting area, which was basically empty, except for a lady who was very obviously W's mom. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't know if she would pick us out as the foster parents or if she would want to talk to us. I kept having the urge to to over and tell her that we were the ones who had been taking care of her baby and that he was doing well, but I just didn't have the courage to approach her. After court, the caseworker introduced us. The mom asked immediately how W was doing. She even thanked us for taking care of him. I knew then I should have went up to her in that waiting room. She was so nice. How could this be the same person I had build up in my mind as a horrible lady who didn't care enough about her kids to keep them safe? But, it was just one of those suprising things that foster care has brought to our attention.
This lady just kept forcing me to surprise myself. The next time it happened was when W had a test at the hospital. The mom knew about the test, and said she would be there. I really didn't expect her to show up, but she did. It was a test where W had to go without eating after midnight, so by 8:30 am, he was hungry. When the mom walked in, W was fussing because he was hungry. I had already been in the waiting room for 10 or 15 minutes and hadn't had much luck keeping him happy. When his mom came in, she reached for W and wouldn't you know she calmed him down. I was so impressed. She was so calm (my nerves were a bit frayed at that point) and loved on him until he quieted down. We waited for a while longer before they called us back for the test. I won't deny it, it was an awkward situation. It's pretty obvious who W's mom is, between the two of us at least, but when the doctor asks questions like, how does he sleep at night, how often does he eat, etc, I'm the one who knows the answers. Then there's the question of what would I do if she tried to take W out of the room, or out of the building?! I felt like I was watching her every second, but I didn't really need to, nothing scary has ever happened when I have been with W's mom.
Then the test was over and it was time to leave. W's mom doesn't have a car, so she takes the bus everywhere. I felt so bad walking out of the hospital to my car and leaving her out in the cold to wait for the bus. So, I did something that really surprised me, I offered her a ride home. She was thankful for the ride and we talked the whole way to her house. It was just so weird to me, I was liking this person who I never thought I even wanted to meet. I was finding my self encouraging her and hoping she got things in order so she could get W back. Since that day, which was probably 4 or 5 months ago, I have taken W's mom to several appointments. Its just become part of things, that when there is an appointment, I will stop by and get W's mom and we go together. We have become sort of a team when it comes to taking care of W. I guess that is how foster care is supposed to work, but it wasn't how I planned on doing things.