Anyone have experience with TPR being appealed?

I can just about guarantee that I WILL have that experience. The TPR on my 15 year old foster son is set for the end of June, and both he and the family are determined to fight it to the last dying breath. Here in Alberta, the entire appeal process has to be DONE within 30 days of the original ruling...so what I'm "expecting" is TPR on June 30th, appeal over by July 31st, and then at the same time they'll probably grant us private guardianship. My understanding is that appeals are almost always denied.

My best friend just went through an appeal. It took 7 years to finalize the adoption. Bio dad appealed, it went before the court. They ruled TPR stays. He appealed that decision. In the mean time Bio mom appealed TPR. Appeal denied. Then Bio dad appealed again, and went to a higher court. a year and a half later the appeal was denied. 45 days later the adoption was granted. It takes time, a lot of stress and headaches, but well worth it. We were blessed our TPR and adoption went right thru. Good Luck and God Bless!

We are currently going through the appeals, Actually we went through 2 of them and now we are going through the appeals court. Childrens Services has permanent custody and of course mom has appealed both decisions and now we wait for the hearing in front of the 3 judges in the appeals court. Talk about being tired. Our little one whom we've had since she was 3 mos old (she is now 3 years old) does not even acknowledge her mom and her "mom". If you ask her I am her mommy and she has even told her that. So now we are in the "waiting game" AGAIN. Instead this time we've hired a lawyer to help us. Thank God. The stuff mom's lawyer is pulling is so ridiculous. All of mom's lies are just making me want to pull my hair out. If we could of had kids of our own this wouldn't be so nerve racking. But since we can't have any... So now all we do is wait and pray and pray. Just got to have the confidence that God is going to let her be ours -FOREVER

I just found out today that the bio mom in our case has filed an appeal. the CW doesn't think it will be appealed, but she said there is not limit on how long it could take before the appeal can be 'heard'. Is that the right term? She also said that in the meantime bio Mom can petition the courts to reinstate visits!?!?! That would be so harmful to the bunchkins at this point. It's even insane to think about it. I am just really trying to trust God in this.

Thank you for all the support and replies. I talked with the department's lawyer today and she said that it could be tied up in court for 2 years -- she said that the appeals court really doesn't get in a hurry. Just like ANNWILL, these two boys only know me as mommy. Bmom has not petitioned for visits to be reinstated -- I pray that she doesn't. I too am trusting God for these boys to be my forever sons soon!Thank you for all the prayers and positive thoughts. It means alot knowing that there are others who are praying for us, too. Darla

We went through this with our 3 (2 different cases). J's was through a few weeks after placement and he was put on hold until the others went through. The hardest part was not being able to tell them anything. We were just their foster parents (although they tried to get us to say we wanted to adopt them, they even begged, but we weren't allowed to say anything). Each place is different, so I can only tell you what happens here in Texas. They TPR, bio's have 45 days to file an appeal (which was done pretty much on the last possible day on one, and within 3 weeks on the other 2 and almost didn't happen because bmom didn't have the money to pay for it). It took almost a year for the 1st one's to come back upheld (we won). The other 2 took about 8-9 months to come back upheld (again, we won). Then, the bio's have another 45 days to appeal to the state supreme court. We waited and waited... no appeal! And like another poster stated, appeals are not normally over-turned unless something illegal has been done (that's why it takes so long... they have to make sure the bparent's rights have been taken care of). Because they had been in our home longer than 6 months, we could have finalized the adoption the next day after adoption placement paperwork was signed. We decided to wait until National Adoption Day and had a great time (it was about 8 weeks after signing). Hang in there!

Why is it then that we hear so much about the dreaded TPR when the appeal seems far more heartbreaking. After the TPR I heaved a great sigh of relief, now to find we may be held up for a year or more in appeals??? What about the children? This seems far more agonizing. I am greatly concerned about our 15 year old. He is loosing time, and can't afford a lengthy appeal process. I just don't understand things sometimes. Sorry aboutt he rant, I'm a little distraut right now.

After TPR, does the state still give bio parents free lawyers to file an appeal? I thought I read somewhere that the free lawyer ended with a TPR. Maybe this varies by state.

Imdamommy -- you're correct (at least as far as Texas), that's why our bmom's appeal almost didn't happen. She had to come up with the money for the appeal herself. Now, J's bdad appealled for him (just him, different dads) and he's in jail, so I don't know who was paying for his. Mel in NEPA -- I think TPR is worst because there is a huge chance that the kids will go back (depends on the case, I know). But with appeals, although no promises can be made, it's pretty darn sure that the kids are going to be adopted ... by someone. We didn't have to deal with biovisits or a lot of other things that happen before TPR (some other fosterparents had that fun). It's tough on the kids because they've already had their "goodbye visit" and know they're never going back...but in our case, they wouldn't tell them where they were going either! In fact, the worker built them up saying she was working hard looking for a family where all 3 could be together and telling the oldest that she was looking for an adoption home. So, they knew, but didn't know. Talk about limbo! But those bioparents have to have their rights. However, I'm glad we had that year. I know for sure that no matter what, I want these kids in my home and in my heart. Even when they throw tantrums and are really "prickly" (which they have been lately), I know how to handle it. I've seen too many disrupted adoptions because the new parents weren't prepared for the types of behaviors these kids can have. It's not the best, but I honestly don't know what else can be done...at least on this end of it.

I was wondering this myself. This bmom hasn't kept a job. When the kids first came into state's custody, she worked at Wal-Mart for maybe 2 weeks, but then she just "didn't work there anymore". (Could be because they perform random drug checks!)The whole family is really poor so I doubt that they are able to pay for a lawyer. Darla

With the history of our bmom, she could have gotten the money in a few different ways, none of them very nice.

As far as our bmom, during the beginning of all of this, she got a lawyer (her uncle) but then after the first appeal, she got herself a court appointed attorney of course which all of us are paying for. Now after the sencond appeal of which the judge gave TPR, we couldn't believe it but her lawyer is going to go to the appeals court and do all of this "free of charge". Why? We do not know. Now mom says that after this she'll go to the supreme court- but will they hear this case? We never had to deal with this before. Just wondering if the supreme will hear this type of a case. But as for right now, we're just waiting for the hearing date. The appeals court has got to see that this little one is better off with us. If only her lawyer wouldn't of done this this time-maybe it would of been done and over with.

When my sister lost rights to my first niece, she appealed, and the appeal was denied. Now we are awaiting the judge's decision whether or not to TPR on my second niece, and it's expected to go through. I know that my sister will appeal again, but I am confident that this appeal will be denied also. From what i understand, it's very unusual for a parent to win an appeal, especially if they have the same judge that TPR in the first place.

The appeal should go up to the appellet (sp?) court. It should not be the same judge. They don't make judgement calls on where the child should live, just whether or not the bparents rights were taken care of. So, if the child reg. place (called CPS here) has done their job throughly, and can show cause, and there are no mistakes in their paperwork or documentation, then the appeals judge has no other choice but to uphold the lower courts decission. No one goes in front of him/her to argue their points, it's all done on paper (at least that's the way it's done here). The reason it takes months and months is that the judge has all this paperwork to wade through and wants to make sure that all the t's were crossed and all the i's were dotted. They have to make sure all the laws were followed, due process was done and all that. The state supreme court can hear the case, but it's up to them. If they refuse, then the bparents are out of luck. Well, I guess they could go to the US supreme court, but that would have to be a big time case! WOW! However, a case being over-turned CAN happen, but it doesn't very often. Remember all that news on the surgatemother stuff years ago? That was overturned. That was also a private deal, not through the state foster system. And 30+ years ago it was not unheard of that bparents literally had their children hidden away from them by some "well-meaning" or "hidden agenda" caseworker. So, today, the courts are more careful (they take more time). It's all a waiting game, and you never do know what the courts are going to do.

————————/-//————-I won my TPR appeal, praise the Lord. The agency was hellbent on having my rights terminated and pushed for adoption just after 7 months of my case being open. Luckily, I had a very fair judge at the Cidcuit court that looked at all of the evidence, saw the discrepancies and flaws in how my case had been handled (it was riddled with corruption, violations of rights, and policies) and all of the progress I had made and continued to make up until that point. He really recognized my commitment to change, my fight, and my resilience, and he happily and confidently overturned both the goal change to adoption and the termination of rights. The case workers, most of them anyways, were butthurt of course and I think they were shocked that we won, especially since their corruption had gone unchecked for so long, but thankfully my son is now out of foster care and my case should be closed soon. ߙ