De facto parent status?

I hired an attorney to file De Facto Parent status with the court. Once the paperwork was done, it was quite simple. The judge asked if anyone objected (other attornys) & then looked over the paperwork & granted De Facto Parent Status.

I was just granted de facto parent status for my fson. I filed the paperwork with the court myself. His cw was the one that suggested it. The bmom and her attorney objected at the first hearing and they delayed it. At the next hearing bmom withdrew her objection and the judge granted it.

my daughter and her husband filed defacto parenting for a child in their foster care last year. It didn't make a bit of difference once the Grandma said she had changed her mind and did want the child. I don't see the point if it doesn't give any real teeth to the process. They now have a girl that they were told to file on also but social services is talking about reuniting with a mother who has had them removed twice and relinquished several times volunarily. Where are the foster parent champions out there???

I did de facto with my two fost-adopt kids who have been in my home since Dec 2002. We STILL have not finalized, but the appeals have been exhausted at this point. It should be soon. However in many months of court dates, I was able to know exactly where things were because I had de facto status. My advise is DO IT. It takes no time, you do not need an attorney to file (call the kids attorney for advise), and it allows you access to all the reports. It gives notice to those writing the reports that they will be held accountable, as you will be privy to their qritten opinions. You have the right to clarify things in the report in open court, etc. Be informed, and be involved as much as possible.

Our fgirls 1st sw who came from juvy court before working in children's services also recommended de facto parent status duiring our inital meeting. She said in her experience, if a judge grants a fparent de facto, they almost always will be granted the adoption. It also gives you a voice in court if the biomom appeals or a family member comes out of the woodwork at the last minute (this is our fear) and wants the kids. Their current sw also says it lets the court know that we have a vested interest in the placement of the girls, and that we aren't just "Foster Parents". It was a very simple process, in fact The Judge decided to grant our status w/out even talking to us, he just looked at the case. BioMom is very supportive of us adopting her girls, so we hopefully won't even need to use it, but you never know. The TRP hearing is Tuesday. I'll let you know if it came into play. :) treschicas

What does de facto parent status mean? I have never heard that term.

From my understanding, it gives the foster parents a voice in court. Otherwise, we have no say and can't contribute to the hearings, only observe. My kids SW also said it lets the Judge know that you are taking every step you need to to adopt your fkids, willing to do whatever it takes, but that was just her opinion. Our SW said he didn't think it was necessary. It was a simple process, and we took the advice our our kids SW and got it . Anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert. :)

Applying for defacto standing with the court enables you to be a party to the proceedings. You or your attorney sits at the table with the rest of the attornies. You can call witnesses. You can file appeals. You participate in the proceedings. It gives you no extra "parent like" rights. You do not have to have an attorney to file for standing. You can ask the judge to appoint you an attorney at the time he approves the de facto standing for you. From all of my research and experience (in Orange County) judges will usually grant de facto standing to foster parents who have had a child in their care for a year without questions. With one of my foster children, the bio parents objected so we had to have a hearing where they had to prove why we didn't meet the criteria to be de facto parents. Hope I've helped.

We had our .26 (TPR) hearing yesterday, and due to our de facto status we were able to speak on our behalf at court. We don't have a lawyer. It was disappointing in that the DSS forgot to post notice for one of the birth fathers...our 10 year old's who's she's never met. The bio mom told the judge that she wants us to adopt her girls and give them stability as soon as possible, so this was basically a technicality. The judge said he had no choice other than to continue our case another 75 days to post notice to the bio dad. He told us to be patient just a little longer, but have piece of mind that all legal proceedures will be 100% in place when the adoption goes through. So in the meantime, we keep living our lives as we have, and wait a little longer.

I was granted de facto status today. My question is, do I now need to retain an attorney? What I want is access to the reports. You said that with de facto you can get these. How is it best to go about it?

If you want to understand or take any action on the court minutes/reports, you are going to want to hire your own attorney. If you have evidence you want the judge to see or to be presented in the case, your attorney will need to file a 388 to have the information presented before or at the next hearing. It all depends on what information you have. My husband and I were De Facto for our adoptive placements. The children were will us all the way up to 18 months. We hired an attorney who fought his expensive butt off for those kids and us. We didn't know we were fighting a losing battle. Regardless of the danger biomom presented to these children, the CW's blindly recommended RU to the judge. We lost the kids. California is BIG on RU. I'm sorry to tell you that you are going to be fighting an uphill battle. Best of luck!