Legal risk placement..have ?? about appeal

Hi, I can tell you how things in KY work with the appeals. When the TPR order is given the bparents have 30 days to SAY they will appeal. If they do that they then have 60 days to SUBMIT THE APPEAL IN WRITING. If they do that the appeals court reviews the case and either accepts to hear the appeal or rejects it. If they accept it, it could take a very long time (I've known it to take over 18 months -- 2 years here). In KY the appeals court have never overturned a TPR. The reason for that is that the case workers have done EVERYTHING the way it's supposed to be done. If your child's bmom is a meth addict, she will need to pass quite a few drug tests and work on a plan to get him back. If they have done the TPR she didn't do what she needed to do. The way it's supposed to work is the appeals can be heard if her lawyer (which she needs to pay for with her own money - they don't assign public defenders for an appeal of a tpr - at least not here) can prove her defense was inadequate, the state lied, the state didn't keep their end of the agreement, etc. She can't just appeal because she lost the TPR hearing, there must be extenuating circumstances. In our case, our kid's TPR was approved in 3/04. Their mom SAID she'd appeal but never followed through with the 60 day limit to submit it in writing. We did not receive the Appeal's Court order throwing the case out until October, 2004. Best of luck with this placement. I hope this information helps in some way. Michelle

I am in GA and the appeal just seems to slow the process up but I have never heard of one being overturned here either. I think that the chances of her winning an appeal are very small. Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm in Washington State. My 2nd fs became legally free this year after a trial. Dad said he would appeal but never did, they have 30 days to file appeal here. There has to be something to legally appeal. They are hardly ever overturned here. Erin

waiting, Can you update us on your situation? Did you accept the placement? If so, how are things going? sfbaymom

In our County in MN, we have not had any TPR's be reversed and most of the bparents will attempt to appeal. We too have the 30 day intent to appeal, 30 days to order the transcript of the court documents, 30 days for the appellate briefs to be written up, 30 days for the Court of Appeals decision. So, it may be a 3-4 month or more delay in your adoption but the chance of a reversal of the termination would be rare from what I understand. We are hoping that the bmom of our fs missed her deadline for paying the attorney for transcripts ($2000), today was the day. This too is meth situation, it really is a tough drug for them to kick. Good luck. The chances are great you will keep your little one. :)

If your question is if there is a chance of him going back to his mother. Yes there is, but very low. Most appeal cases in Co are dismissed. We are going through this process with our little guy. After TPR in Nov, his b-parents had 30 days to appeal or give an extention to appeal. Of course his father asked for an extention of appeal on day 29. So he had another 30 day to appeal. Of cours he appealed on day 29. Then he had 60 days to submite the appeal in writting, and again of course he did it on day 59. Then the wait comes. We heard nothing until 2 months ago that finally they had it scheduled for the appeal to be reviewed. but of course no one knows when since they review several. So it has been 9 months of waiting and we are still waiting. We hope it will be dismissed and we can start the adoption process (most likely it will), but if not we know that the wait could be another year before adopting him. If you decide to take him, hang in there. The wait is long, but like I said most appeals are dismissed.

We have had our munchkin since April. He is the absolute LIGHT of our lives! He is fit in so well and attached very quickly! Must be all the attention he receives wherever he goes LOL! I found out this week, his birthmother filed an appeal but the judge refuse to hear it. I believe she as late in her filing. So now we are just waiting for October to come so we can finalize :) WE were so fortunate to get him, but I also want another child. This went so well the first time, I'm expecting disaster next time :(