Still patiently waiting

Our caseworker came for her monthly visit earlier this week.  She needs to see Isaiah once a month and is supposed to see him in our home every two months.  Since he no longer has visits, she has to come to our house each time now.

Anyway, I was hoping she might have some information on the progress of the termination case.  She did have some information, but it wasn't really what I was hoping to hear.  She said the DCS attorney hasn't submitted his report to the judge yet.  I was hopeful we would have the judge's decision this week or so, but until that report is submitted, the judge can't make a ruling.

Technically, the attorneys have 30 days to submit their reports.  Court was April 5, so the 30 days isn't up until next week.  The caseworker said that they have been swamped with these cases and she knows the attorney is behind on getting these reports in.  To make matters more complicated, there are three attorneys working on separate reports (one for each parent and one for DCS).  So if just one lawyer is behind, the whole case stays on hold.  Once the reports are in, the judge has 30 days to make a decision.  Even though there are time limits set, I doubt there are any type of consequences for exceeding them.

I am anxious to get this case over with, but honestly, since visits have stopped it's not so bad waiting.  Since we aren't going to visits any more, it feels like we are a normal family now.  But, I also remember the relief I felt once we finalized Alexander's adoption.   We will get there!

Now we wait....

Friday was a big day.  15 months after the caseworker asked for termination of parental rights to be granted, the hearing to accomplish that finally took place.  We won't have an answer from the judge for a few days or weeks, but everyone is pretty confident it will happen.  From what I've heard (we couldn't sit in on the hearing) things went well during court.  Hopefully we will know something soon.  We will be contacting our adoption attorney soon and she will start getting things ready so we can move things along once we hear that parental rights have been terminated. 
I'm so ready to have this all done and final!  Isaiah has been a part of our loves for so long, its time to make it official.