Waiting, still waiting...

Things have not went as expected lately as far as Isaiah's case goes.  We were supposed to have the final hearing for the termination of parental rights last week, but it was continued due to a conflict in one of the lawyer's schedules. 

I hate when court gets continued.  I don't like going to court anyway.  But when I know its coming up, I get myself mentally prepared for it.  Then, when it gets continued, I have to go through all that again.  And, this was the worst hearing to be continued.  It would have been the last time we had to go to court with these parents.  And, afterwards, visits should have been done for good.  And, most importantly, we would have been able to get started on the adoption process.

Now, we are still doing weekly visits with the mom and still waiting on a new court date.  I'm guessing it will be about a month away.  But its hard to say for sure. 

I am surprised by this, but I think the mom is almost as ready for this to be over as I am.  She has been acting differently at the visits lately.  She doesn't try to pick up Isaiah when we get there, she hardly says hello to him, and she barely says goodbye when we leave.  It makes sense that she would start to distance herself from him at this point, its probably her way of protecting herself from all of this.  But at the same time, she knows she can end all this by voluntarily signing over her rights.  She has made it clear she won't do that though. 

There is something else going on with her, but I haven't figured out what it is yet.  She cut her hair and started wearing it a different way a couple weeks ago (after wearing it exactly the same for the 2 years I have known her).  She has also been wearing new clothes and shoes (after wearing worn out things all this time).  And some different furniture has appeared in her apartment.  So, money is coming from somewhere.  And she doesn't have a job. I don't know if its a new boyfriend or a new money making venture (we know she has done prostitution in the past), or family could be sending money, who knows.  I'm so thankful visits are supervised!

But, even though we don't know when it will be yet, there is an end in sight. So, we will all continue to muddle through until court happens.

The awkward stage has begun....

Isaiah's case is nearing the end. We all know it. We all know how things will go. 

I think Isaiah's mom is well aware that her time with him is limited.  She knows we have said we want her to continue a relationship with Isaiah after termination, but I'm sure she also knows we won't be bringing him over to her house once or twice a week and leaving him for a few hours.  Its going to be more like we may meet her at the park and she can play with Isaiah for a little while every few months. 

I know Isaiah will adjust to fewer visits without a problem.  He has a relationship with his mom, but its not a parent/child relationship.  For the last 22 months, he has spent a couple of hours at a time with her, usually with another adult present, and then I come pick him up and we go home.  He likes seeing her, but he will be fine with not seeing her too.  His mom on the other hand, will have a hard time with not seeing him so often.  She feels she she has a bond with him like a mother should and loves him very much.  I know she is unhappy with how this has ended up and is dreading the end of weekly visits.  But, she has been the one in control of the fate of this case. Feeling like a mother is different than acting like a mother.  The mom has known what was expected of her from the beginning, yet she has made no changes in her life.  Right now, and no time in the future as far as I can see, will she be able to take care of Isaiah.  She can't keep him safe.  She can't put him first.  So, the case is going to be ending soon, and rightfully so.

All of this is common knowledge between us, the caseworkers, and the mom.  So, every time I take Isaiah to a visit, we have to muddle through a very awkward few minutes.  The case manager who supervises the visits is frequently a few minutes late because she comes directly from another appointment.  So that gives us those few more minutes to stand there waiting for her to get there.  Since its just me, the mom, and Isaiah-with Alexander usually waiting in the car not so patiently waiting, we stand outside my car and try to talk about Isaiah without actually discussing anything of significance or relevance to the case. 

Last week, Isaiah didn't want me to put him down.  When I did finally put him down, he turned right back around and reached for me while yelling "Mommy!".  Talk about awkward! I just picked him back up and hugged him, but didn't say anything.  Of course, his mom didn't say anything either. 
I don't know what to say.  "Sorry your kid looks to me as his mom instead of you, but its actually your fault so deal with it" doesn't rely seem like an appropriate option. So we stand there and comment on how Isaiah likes trucks and motorcycles. Its fun. Not. 

But, that's how this all goes. Its just part of the process. And, I know it could be worse. I could be standing there while the mom told me everything she hated about the way I am taking care of her son.  She could be blaming this all on me.  Or even worse, she could be mean to Isaiah during the visits.  But none of those things happen.  I am grateful for that.

 This will all be over soon and we can get into the groove of a normal family life. I don't think we will have too much trouble with that adjustment.

Alexander has been doing well.  His attitude continues to improve.  He is less moody than he was.  He's been driving me crazy with his whining, but that's normal 3 year old stuff.  I can see him continuing to develop relationships with us and our extended family.  That is a good thing for sure.  He just seems happier.  We saw a huge improvement in his overall mood right at first, but then it felt like he kind of stayed at that point for a long time.  Now, we are seeing improvement again.  It's slower improvement now, but I think that's a healthy sign.  

Here's the latest

A status hearing was held yesterday for W's case.  The fact finding hearing was set for June 7th. 

Since that is so far away, the caseworker is planning to reduce visits from two hour visits twice a week to three hour visits once a week.  I'm glad she is reducing them because I think it will help to make the transition from having visits to no visits easier for W and his mom.  This case is so much different from Alexander's.  In his case it was painful for me to take him to visits and this case is the opposite, I think I will feel guilty for not taking him.  I shouldn't feel bad because none of this is my fault.  And, I have encouraged this mom as much as I felt I could.  And, I know it is time to move on with things and have a permanent situation here for all of us. 

So, after June 7th, parental rights should be terminated for W.  He won't be legally free for adoption for another 6 months after that to allow for the appeals process, if either parent would choose to appeal.  During that 6 months, W will still technically be in foster care, but nothing will change as far as his placement with us and he won't have any more visits.  That means we can have our adoption attorney start the process some where around this December.  We were hoping to have his adoption done this year, but it looks like it will drag into 2014.  But, that's ok. 

Since this is all getting wrapped up now and it still looks pretty certain W will be staying with us forever, we have decided for sure about his new name. (Well the first name at least, we haven't settled on a middle name yet.)  So, if you see our little guy out and about you can call him Isaiah. 

The boys started at a new daycare last week.  I told them at the new place that they could all call him Isaiah because I new it would be easier to start out with that then try and change in a few months when they were all used to calling him by his birth name.  It is kind of strange when we walk in and everyone yells "Hi Isaiah!", but I'm getting used to it and I think he is too. 

People have asked me why we would change his name after we have called him that for so long.  We had thought about calling him Isaiah a long time ago, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.  Its one of those defense mechanisms we use as foster parents.  Calling him by his new name is saying that he will be a permanent part of our family (at least that's how it feels to me) and that isn't something we could do before we were certain he would stay.  There have been two separate times that a date has been set for Isaiah to go home to his mom.  It was hard to deal with that both times, but we got to the place that we were ok with it.  I think we were able to cope pretty well because we had made sure to maintain enough distance.  Even though it seems like a simple thing, calling a foster child by the name we have chosen for them vs what their birth parents named them is a big step. 

I have talked before about the reason W needed a new name in the first place---he is named after a bad guy and we can't let him go through life with that as his role model.  

Well, even though its still going to be quite a while before this case is totally over, I'm excited that we now have end in sight.

Since I can't post any pictures yet of the adorable Isaiah, I will put on a few of the less adorable kids. 

Just kidding!  I think they are all adorable!  But Isaiah is pretty cute!!

Update on Mr. W

We went to court today for W's mom's initial termination hearing.  The dad's hearing was last week and he of course denied the termination (since this is all a conspiracy against him and all). 

We waited in the waiting area (which was packed) for about an hour and a half.  I hate that part. We always sit by W's mom, it would be weird to walk past her and sit across the room.  So anyway, there we are sitting by her, with the CASA on the other side and the case manager there too.  We all want to talk about the case because we don't have that many chances to get caught up on any changes that may be going on.  But, we can't really talk because the mom is sitting there, so we all scramble around to find something to talk about for what feels like an eternity.  The whole time the mom is sitting there looking like she could break down at any moment. Its stressful.

So, finally the caseworker called us back to the hall outside the court room because we were next.  We waited out there for another 10 or 15 minutes.  Well, Nathan gets fed up with everyone walking on egg shells all the time when he feels like they should be more upfront.  So, he says to the caseworker, while the mom is standing right there, "I just hope this all gets done soon, W is getting big enough that its going to start affecting him".  No one really says anything, but I'm pretty sure I felt daggers coming from the moms eyes and heading toward Nathan. 

So we went into the court room finally. The judge went through some technical stuff with the mom as far as what termination means and why DCS was requesting it.  He told her she could accept these charges and waive her right to a trial, but then he said he was accepting her denial.  I wasn't sure how he knew she wanted to deny since he didn't ask her, but that's what happened.  I'm sure she would have denied anyway. 

Then a weird thing happened.  The mom's lawyer started whispering to her and then he told the judge she wanted more visit time.  Where did that come from? We were there for termination.  The time for more visits has past (quite a long time ago!). The caseworker explained to the judge that she had planned to reduce visits soon because it was nearing termination.  The judge didn't make a decision right then, but said he will likely keep visit time at DCS discretion. 

Also, a fact finding hearing was not set because a status hearing was set for April 8.  I have never heard of a status hearing and I don't know why he set it. But he made it clear that the mom did not need to be there for it.  I guess, after this status hearing takes place, the fact finding will be scheduled.  All I took from that was this is all going to drag out longer. 

So, not much happened today and it took a long time to get that accomplished. 

Bonding

Everyone talks a lot about bonding with adopted kids.  Its a very important part of building a relationship between a parent and child.  The child needs to feel they are loved and need to feel attached to the parent and those feelings need to be reciprocated by the parent.  Its a long process and can be trying at times, but its so important.

With W, bonding hasn't been much of an issue, it just happened naturally.  We got W when he was 3 months old, so he has never known any family but us. He developed a bond with us just like a biological child would have.

But, Alexander has been different.  He was able to develop a bond and feel attached to me pretty quickly.  But, I had to put forth a lot of effort in the process.  I took 4 weeks off work when he came to us.  I spent those weeks spending as much time with him as possible. I tried to make sure I was as close to him physically as I could be, while not making him uncomfortable.  I gave him tons of hugs, and just touched him as much as I could.  I held him a lot.  I held his hand.  I made sure I was right there to comfort him when he fell down or was scared.  Of course I do those things for all the kids, but I put it into overdrive with Alexander. 

All of this bonding thing was on my mind today because I realized we are still forming that bond together.  I think bonding is an ongoing process with all kids (bio or otherwise), but even more so with Alexander. 

Today, Alexander had an eye appointment at Riley.  He had failed a vision screening at the doctor when we first got him so the doctor referred us to Riley.  He got the all clear today, so no more follow-ups are needed.  Anyway, Alexander spent the whole day with Nathan and I today.  He was really good at his appointment, but he was a little leery the whole time because he wasn't sure what was going to happen.  Because he felt uncomfortable, he made sure to stick close to Nathan and I. 

Now, that we are home, he's still right by my side.  He just came up to me and put his head on me and gave me a big hug.  He gives me hugs a lot, but he is not a lovey-dovey kid. So the fact that he has come up and hugged me several times today is really out of the norm for him. Sometimes I wonder if Alexander isn't overly lovey with us because he isn't a person who likes to cuddle, or is it a result of him not having the same bond with us yet. Either way, I am still seeing him build a stronger bond with us as time passes, even though he was been with us for so long. I guess I didn't think about this process continuing on for this long. But in a way, it makes sense. All relationships are always evolving.

Nothing much has happened yet....

We still haven't had the initial court date for termination of parental rights (TPR) for W. Everything that was scheduled for court the day our hearing was supposed to be was rescheduled for next month.  So, now our initial hearing is on March 18th for the mom.  The dad's is March 12th.  We still don't go to any of his hearings for safety reasons, so we will just have to wait and hear how that goes. 

One thing I did find out about involving the dad, at his last court hearing, the caseworker said she would grant visitation if the dad completed services 80% of the time for 30 days.  Services would include counseling, parenting classes, etc, that he has been court ordered to complete.  I know why the caseworker did this, she wants to be able to show in court that she has given the dad multiple chances to move forward in the case, but he hasn't followed through.  She will use this in his TPR case.  But, I was also a bit nervous about this.  I know she did it because she was confident he wouldn't follow through, but what if he did?  I am not OK with him having visits. Not even supervised ones.  But, as it turns out, the dad didn't make any appointments with his services; he's at 0%, no where near the required 80. So we can take a breath and not worry about him visiting.

W's mom hasn't said anything to me about TPR.  I didn't expect her to, but it is like the elephant in the room every time I see her now.  The first visit we had after all the paperwork came, she wouldn't look at me or speak to me.  I didn't take it personally, but it was still awkward.  To make matters worse, W is starting to talk and he now calls us mom and dad.  The other day when I went to pick him up from a visit, he ran up to me yelling "Mommy!" and grabbed my legs.  I picked him up and said, "yes, tell mommy goodbye!". It was not fun.  She didn't say anything, but I know it must be hurtful to see your baby run to another woman and call her mommy. 

But, on the other hand, I have been mommy to him since he was tiny.  He has been with me far more than with his birth mom.  Plus, this situation is not my fault, it is hers.

I think that is something I am finally seeing clearly. For a long time, I really felt sorry for this mom.  I wanted her to succeed.  I tried to help her out and encourage her as much as I could.  Sometimes I felt guilty that I was taking W home with me after a visit.  And, I do still like this mom.  And, I don't want her to fail.  But, she has been given so much support over the past 19 months that her failures can't be blamed on anyone but her now.  Caseworkers, therapists, the CASA, everyone has held her hand and guided her in the right direction.  But, she has repeatedly let go and ran back to where she started.  Its that fact that has brought me to the realization that its time for this to move on and for her to take a different role in W's life. His birth mom can't be his mom anymore.  She can still love him and keep a relationship with him, but not as a mother.  W needs more than what she is willing to offer.

That's the other part, its what she is willing to offer that is the problem.  If she wasn't able to give him what he needed, that could be fixed. But the fact is, she is perfectly capable of being a parent but chooses not to.  That makes this a whole other situation. 

So, things are at a standstill until we get into court, but everyone is pretty confident of what the outcome will be.

We knew the caseworker was planning to file termination on W's parents, but we hadn't heard the status of that for a few days.  The caseworker had hoped to have things ready so she could do the initial termination hearing when we were at court on the 14th, but she wasn't able to get that done.

Well, when I got the mail today, there was a copy of termination paperwork.  They filed on both parents and the initial hearings are in about 2 weeks.  That means things should be final, as far as the termination of parental rights in 6 weeks or so, unless it takes a while longer to get another court date.

What happens in this process is, the caseworker files termination of parental rights with the court.  An initial hearing is scheduled then.  At the initial hearing for Alexander, which is my only experience with this, the judge read the case number, said who was present, and asked the parents if they accepted or denied the charges.  I'm guessing that is how it will go in this case also.  If the the parents accept, I think the judge can grant termination then.  But if they deny, a Fact Finding hearing is scheduled.  It is supposed to be in 30 days.  The Fact Finding hearing is where DCS presents all the evidence they have as to why termination needs to be granted.

If the parents voluntarily give up parental rights (meaning it wouldn't have to get to the fact finding hearing), the judge will grant the termination and we can start the adoption process in 30 days.  If the parents won't consent and termination is granted involuntarily, we aren't able to start the adoption process for 6 months.  That time frame is there to allow the parents to file an appeal since they didn't consent to the termination.  During that 6 months, W would still technically be in foster care, but nothing would change.  Visitation would be stopped and we would just be waiting for the 6 months to end so we could make things official.

I haven't seen W's mom since this happened, his next visit is on Monday.  I don't know how she is going to react to this.  She knew it was coming.  I hope she will just go ahead and sign her rights over, but that is probably wishful thinking.  I am confident termination will be granted at Fact Finding, but it would be good if it didn't have to come to that.  The one that will probably hold things up is the dad.  He has maintained that this is a conspiracy against him and he was holding his son in a loving way when he was arrested, even though an entire SWAT team disagrees.  So, I don't see him consenting to anything.

I guess we never expected this to be a smooth process.  As long as it ends with W being in the best place for him, that's the important thing.