Compliance Hearing on Thursday

I also have a 15 month old who was placed with me at 10 days. His bios surrendered in October. I cannot imagine how you must be feeling- well, actually, I can. In September, his bios decided they wanted to work a case plan to get reunified and the CW started talking about increasing visits and overnights. THIS was so hard! Then, less than 6 weeks later, they both signed an identified surrender. Things can change so quickly! I got through it day-by-day and sometimes minute-by-minute. I focused on the baby. And I prayed- ALOT- that God would let the right thing for this baby happen and that I would be able to accept this. I'm sorry you and baby J are going through this. Time is on your side. Non-compliance and no visits show these bios don't have the commitment to parent this baby. I don't doubt their love for her, but loving and parenting are 2 very different things. Maybe they realize this, but haven't been able to take the next step in surrendering? Can they do a mediation? I don't know much about this, but if both bios have talked about surrendering but haven't yet, maybe this would be an option? Take care, Eileen

Misstoniccee, My advice is to do some leg work ahead of/at the compliance hearing. I would (if you haven't already): 1. Plan to attend the hearing (don't bring baby since mom might show). Use your legal right to make a statement to the judge. Let him/her know that you are attending with your child's welfare as you paramount concern, and as such, want to make it clear that this child knows noone other than you (it is perfectly kosher to mention your baby hasn't seen parents since 8/08 & 12/08, respectively). Perhaps brief the judge on your baby's growth, attachment to you, family, friends; general lifestyle, and of course, your deep desire to adopt. I wouldn't make any more mention of the parents other than you are aware of ASFA (Adoption and Safe Family Act) and you believe that 15 months is sufficient time for the parents to at least visit regularly, and waiting for them to become serious could result in serious harm top your foster baby. Finally, ask the judge if s/he has any questions for you (and take your time answering so they are accurate). I.e. a judge asked me to clarify our daughters prognosis because I argued that foster care was hindering her wellbeing due to insufficient healthcare, which didn't cover key cardiological tests she needed. My clarification of the urgency influenced the judge to expedite our remaining hearings (weeks instead of months).) 2. Call Law Guardian to let him/her know you will attend next hearing to makemyour statement (don't let the lawyer talk you out of it--it's always a good idea to attend unless there are dangerous circumstances). Also, express you concerns/desire for motion for permanency hearing/TPR. The ASFA serves as sufficient grounds for that; coupled with parents' failure to remedy circumstances that caused placement and besst interests (child's bond to you)--in other words, your case already meets at least 2 or 3 of 5 possible grounds fopr TPR. Encourage Law Guardian to get aggressive. 2. Call Caseworker and let him/her know you'll attend next hearing--same advice as above. The timeline is ambiguous because there are so many factors. Based on current law, however, the absolute fastest one can finalize an adoption following TPR is 45 days. Note, in order to accomplish that, one's "adoption package" must be completed and a motion for adoption must be submitted the same day as TPR, which is very difficult. Based on my own experience and an average from adopters from this board, the fastest timeline for finalization through DYFS following TPR is 4-6 months. Best of luck! Jennifer

TPR in our case occurred on 2/28/09 and we just finalized on 4/30/09 - woo hoo!!!! (it was only an involuntary TPR as to one parent; the other did an identified surrender - so we needed to wait the 45 days to make sure the involuntarily terminated parent didn't appeal, but our attorney had already filed our paperwork for a finalization date before the 45 days passed). All good advice already given to you regarding attendance at the hearing and what to focus on. Good Luck and keep us posted.

Thank you for all of your advise. We are always told that there is no need to show for the compliance hearings! Does it make us look bad that we don't go? As always, we did write a letter to update them on her progress and sent new entries of her life book with photos showing her development, interests and bond with our family. Our worker has already sent the preadoptive medical form to her doctor and sent us the fingerprint for adoption only form, and we just received the criminal background checks for adoption today in the mail. So it looks like it's going in our favor. I think that all sides to the case are trying to make sure that they are following all laws so that there are no problems in the future. We are going to hear back from the caseworker after the hearing tomorrow...we are hoping that the bio parents decide to surrender, but at the very least, we will have the court date for trial tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

I'm a broken record as I mention this practically every post but, in my opinion, adoption-minded foster parents should attend every hearing (except the single administrative hearing that preceeds the TPR hearing) . Not only do judges get to see first-hand one's pattern of commitment, it helps them put a face to your name and hear details about one's child's development and wellbeing and/or ask questions that only you would know. We attended all hearings (I think 5 or 6 total in 18 months) and the judges grew to know us the moment we walked in; they were always eager to hear about new developments in our kiddo's health and were quite candid--friend-like--with us at the end of things. Sending reports is also great if you don't feel comfortable attending--the judges do read them. But I think face-to-face contact is always best if possible. Either way, Best wishes to you! Jennifer

We did meet the judge at the permenancy hearing (in January). We also met and spoke with her dad and saw her mom, but didn't speak with her. We went in and made our statement and brought in her lifebook pages with photos. I have offered to have a mediation with her parents, I also gave them an email address that I created just for them so we could have contact whenever they want and I can send photos etc... So the update from todays hearing...I called the caseworker at 4:50 to catch her before she left for the day. She answered the phone and said nothing happened in court today. Both parents "toyed" with the idea of surrendering, but neither made a decision. Then she said that they made a trial date for TPR. Get this...DECEMBER 2009!!!!!!!!! :hissy: I can't believe that they are willing to put this off for so long!!! I am pretty furious about this and I need to call my resource worker in the morning to see if there is anything I can do to try to move the date sooner. :mad: As I understand it, this decision was made based on everyone's vacation time, which I find unacceptable. Please give me some feedback as to what you think my next steps should be. I would love to hear from "seasoned" foster parents.

First off sorry for bringing up an old topic but Google can show up lots of interesting things. This is actually a pretty long story Im giving the shortest version but if anyone wants more information to help with their response IҒd be glad to. My ex has a new husband (step-father) in NJ whom both where accused and founded to of done and been a part of some pretty unthinkable abuse and neglect to her three children. :grr: My son being one of them disclosed this information and thats how the state of NJ got involved. My son lives with me in Maine therefore even though he was a part of the situations in NJ the state is not involved with him only his 2 siblings. Court has gone on for the past year now in both states and most recently I was told NJ court the judge accepted TPR and accepted adoption proceedings from the foster mother (grandmother on the real fatherҒs side). Then I heard of a compliance hearing slated for September 2011, can anyone tell me what this might mean? I dont get much information from anyone down there due to confidentiality rules. No matter the outcome in NJ things are different for my son and I in Maine (i.e. laws, circumstances etc) so IҒm not too worried but more curious to know what i might expect to hear about the compliance hearing. If anyone has any help they could give I would be greatly appreciative.

For us, even though TPR was filed, they still did compliance review every 90 days until the trial. If TPR trial happens before Sept and judge approves TPR, there won't be any further compliance reviews. If the trial is after that date, they will go forward with the hearing. Hope that helps

Thanks for your response. So what exactly is a Compliance hearing? And why would they have 1 if the judge accepted TPR and discussed adoption?

A compliance review is a hearing on the parents' compliance with their case plan. When a child is taken into foster care DYFS and the courts create a case plan for the parents to work in order to show their commitment to fixing whatever they did wrong, learning how to parent appropriately, and being able to keep their kids safe. This happens even in cases where it's clear to everyone that DYFS will be unlikely to return the children to their parents. The case plan can involve such things as rehab (if drugs/alcohol are involved), psychotherapy, psychiatric evaluations, parenting classes, changing one's living situation, kicking out an abusive partner, etc. Every family's case plan is different. At a minimum, parents get 12 months from the date of removal to work their case plan before the foster child's ultimate goal can be changed from reunification to adoption (reunification can still happen after this point, but basically after 12 months DYFS is *supposed* to have solid plans for the child being adopted or returning home *soon*). Every 3 months there is a hearing to determine how the parents are progressing with their case plan. Have they been showing up for visits with the kids (if they're mandated/allowed to?)? Are the kids freaking out during/after these visits? Have they been going to therapy? Have they completed their parenting classes? Have they taken initiative to make their home safer for their children? So on and so forth. DYFS states how they think the parents are progressing, so do the kids' lawyers and the parents' lawyers. Foster parents might show up to make a statement about how the kids are doing, too. If DYFS has found a family member that might be interested in taking the kids or if they are anticipating major changes in the case that will be presented for the judge's approval. NOthing major tends to happen at these hearings (in my experience) except sometimes additional hoops being given to the families to jump through, or warning/admonishing them if they're not following through - They are not trials. This is based on my experience, btw - Foster parents cannot sit in the whole hearing (we can only go in and make a statement) so I really don't know what goes on beyond what the kids' lawyers and DYFS tell me. One thing you should know is these compliance reviews continue even when TPR is filed. They will continue until TPR is approved, I believe.

I do know that recently the DYFS worker even after all of the TPR and adoption talk came in and talked about Kinship legal guardianship to the foster mother who is the grandmother. She said she wasnt for that because the mother could try to get the children back after she completed what she was suppose to do. I think there at a point(DYFS) where they are not sure really what to do and are loking at anything. The mother is still fighting it all even though its obviously clear and she has not left the primary abuser. AHH, THE DRAMA!! Anyway, I appreciate your reply that makes things clearer to me.