Now What?

As a Guardian ad Litem we are told the same thing case managers are told,which is not to disclose the details of a case to anyone. That includes foster parents, unfortunalty foster parents are not considered a party to the case. That being the case,some case managers will not tell you anything. Others will. I can tell you that if they just came back into care, their other case plan has expired and they will have to do a new one. It can take anywhere from 30 days to 6 months to get a case plan approved by the court. In florida, in most cases, reunification is always the first coarse that is looked into. Just because they have been in care before it does not mean that will change. Give it sometime and maybe the CM will open up. She too may not know where things are headed yet. Diana

My CW gave me some info, she told me their previous case plan expires at the end of this month, and they will be having a staff meeting to propose a new case plan maybe sometime this week. I get the feeling that even the cw don't really know what to propose only because this is not their 1st time in care, and they've had other children tpr'd in other states.

My son had planning meetings every 3 months-that is where I got my information. You can also see if the parents have any court dates coming up & see if you can attend-I was always encouraged to attend both. Good luck & God bless those children-what a roller coaster.

It's my understanding that you are entitled to the JR reports which will include the tasks assigned to the bio's. I'm in Florida and I know everything that the parents are required to do. If they are unwilling to tell you then I suggest speaking to a supervisor or better yet attend court where they'll discuss everything in detail. If you are aware of everything there are normally no surprises. When my caseworker won't give me the info, I just remind her that I attend every hearing so I'll find out anyway and then she breaks down and gives me the info.