Kinship Placement in Texas

This post might run a little long since the story's a little complex so bare with me. :) About 2 months ago, I left a doctor appointment and ran to the grocery store to cash a check so I could pay my sitter. I have 4 kids that are mine biologically ages 6, 4, 3, & 2. There was a lady in a wheelchair with a baby on her lap and her boyfriend was trying to talk to the manager about letting them borrow a cart to get their groceries back to their apartment down the block. Since I didn't have the kids with me and wasn't in a big hurry and it was about to start pouring rain, I offered to take them and the groceries home. I learned that they had a car, but it needed some parts to get it running. My husband and I bought those parts and sort of adopted this family to try and get them back on their feet. About a week after I met them, the mother was going to have a shunt in her brain replaced (she has spina bifida and fluid on her brain.) I offered to take care of the baby while she was in the hospital so her boyfriend could keep looking for a job. He came to me dirty and smoky, but I figured we all have faults and she probably wasn't feeling up to bathing him and all that the day before her surgery. I bought him a few new clothes and some bigger shoes, but it wasn't until the second day that he even smiled and rarely even then. My gut said something was wrong, but I thought maybe I was overreacting. We've helped them on and off for the past few weeks with rent, electricity, and gas. I even took their needs to our sunday school class and they came forward with a mattress and box springs and all sorts of other stuff. They even got the boyfriend a job painting temporarily. Despite our best efforts, their electricity was finally turned off and they found an all bills paid apartment and were moving this week. They called me on Thursday morning and asked if I could watch the baby while they packed and moved some things. I agreed and they told me he had a little wheez. I thought I'd keep an eye on him and keep him out of the heat. When he came to the door with him, I nearly went off. The child couldn't breathe! I told him he needed to go the the ER and he just sort of looked at me. I knew that it wouldn't happen if I didn't take him. I took him to my neighbor's house to see what she thought and she agreed. So, my kids went to her house and I quickly got him out of his smoky clothes and wiped him down with some wipes to get the smoke smell off of him so it wouldn't aggravate his breathing. When he was dropped off, he handed me a sippy cup that looked like it hadn't been washed in a week and told me they were out of diapers (money for cigarettes, but not diapers). I changed him and he was raw. I put some ointment on him and he cried because he was so tender. I had him in the ER about 45 minutes after he was dropped off, 30 of that was drive time, stupid traffic. Anyway, I called his mom on the way and told her to meet me there because it would be easier to get him treated with her there. She then told me that when he was 3 wks old he had RSV and a collapsed lung then her other line rang and she put me on hold and never came back! I've got her baby in the car who can't breathe, who's obviously had problems before and her other line is more important! I was really getting livid at this point. They got him in immediately and put him on a continuous breathing treatment for 2 hours. It took 4 tries is get an IV in because his veins kept collapsing because he was dehydrated. She got there about 3 hours later (eventhough she lives 5 mins from the hopsital) and was saying how he wasn't that bad when he left her house, blah blah blah. It was all I could do not to go off. They transferred him to PICU and the hospital social services was called in at my request. They called CPS and they made the decision Friday morning to pull him. This was the second time CPS had been called and she had just finished the parenting classes, etc. She's lying, maniplulating, and beligerent. It doesn't look like she will get him back. I fought to have him placed with us since he knows us and at first it looked like it would work, but then there was this hitch in their policy. If they do a voluntary placement with us where she agrees to let us take him, then we can't do a kinship placement later. I don't understand it, but it's what they said. So, two weeks from Friday is the 14 day hearing and they said their recommendation to the judge will be to have a home study done on us so we can keep him. They said the judge usually orders it done within 7 days so he should be with us in 2-3 weeks. Has anyone delt with anything like this? All the info I can find on kinship placement is about granparents and family, not "babysitters". But, CPS said that his relationship with me is enough for a kinship placement. Do the 14 days hearings really take place in 14 days? Are we looking at 2-3 weeks or 2-3 months? Do we hae to pay for the homestudy? I know you do for adoption, but what about foster care? It breaks my heart for him to go from a scary hospital to strangers, but I'd rather him be with people he knows in the long run than the short. Also, CPS said they have 12 months from the time of removal to decide about permanent removal. Is that an accurate time frame? They said they have to do it within that timeline. I also know that the mom will have visitation until there's a permanent removal. Does anyone have experience with this? What about the possibility of changing his name if we do get to adopt him. He's 16 months old now and his first name is the same as one of my nephews. Would it be too hard on him? Can we put him on our insurance while he's under our care? If not, how do we get him medical care? I know this is a really long post, but I'm so full of questions and I just haven't been able to find any answers. Thanks in advance for your help! :)