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Has anyone ever been through a contested adoption of a child from the foster case system? Our childs birthparents rights were terminated in Aug 09 we had an adoption date set in Dec 09. bio Grandma decided to also petition to adopt this child. Little background...Bio Grandma is the one who lost the child in the first place by seriously indangering his life at just days old. We have had him from 8 days old, he is now almost 2. (I do not feel right sharing more details). We have now had our first day is court and the Judge thinks that we will need 2 or 3 more days just to hear all of the testimony.
I understand that the Bio family has the right to contest this and drag it out but...It is going to cost us somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000 to go through this (which we would NEVER just not do due to the money). I just feel confused, my Husband and I decided to adopt through the Foster care system to avoid these high costs...
Has anyone else ever been through something like this??
I just have never even heard of this happening before! Has anyone else ever know a case where once an adoption began (through foster care) it was contested and the foster parents had to pay to fight for their child?
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yes...it happens. when foster parents want an attorney for themselves, they must pay for it. the child already has an attorney. we were told we could get an attorney if we wanted one with all of our children, but like brandy said, we didn't feel like we needed an attorney because it was not an issue for us to correct. that being said, we did believe that all of our kids' attys had the kids' best interests in mind. and both sets of adoptions where the tpr was appealed...where eventually sorted out and the way was paved for us to adopt. i am sure there are people who did hire an attorney for themselves though....hopefully some of them will post here.
mamalove23
Just to make something clear...it was not a option to get an attorny we were told to get one...
ahh. that's different. i really hope someone can help you out with some information on that. please let us know how it turns out. i didn't know they could do that!
So to add to this story...during court it was told by Grandma that they attend the same church as us (we have never seen them there). Yesterday I made sure that there were extra custody concerns in place and was feeling really safe. I pick all of my kids up an headed to the car...and who was standing outside THE BIO AUNT!!!! I am a very social person and if we were not in the middle of a custody battle for this child I would have stopped and introduced him to her but...per CYS I cannot have any outside contact. Now I feel uncomfrotable...I didn't want to be rude but I quickly put my kids in the car...Do I really need to spend the next couple months looking over my shoulder AT CHURCH????
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Do you know if the grandmother's attorney is court-appointed or if she is also paying out-of-pocket?
We just retained a private lawyer ourselves. Our situation is a little different. We feel our FD's child advocate is ineffective. Our FD has been in care at our home since birth and is now over 2 years old. She never met bio-mom until she was a year old and never met bio-dad until she was 22 months old. The goal has been adoption for 6 months, but no TPR has been filed. When we started to question the agency's decisions, they became hostile toward us and move rapidly toward more visitation, unsupervised visitation, etc.
Our private attorney has filed a notice of intent to adopt. Now the agency's attorney is trying to talk her out of filing involuntary TPR, saying that the case moves to orphan's court and if we lose, the bio-dad gets custody on the spot. I can't believe that could be true.
We think that in Orphan's court the bio-parents would have to secure their own attorneys as well, which would level the playing field for us because with a court-appointed attorney, we would expect that they could file appeal after appeal until we are bankrupt.
We went through something similar (BM tried twice to block our adoption). But the child's lawyer and GAL - after interviewing us, deemed we were the best place for the child. We never had to get an attorney.
It seems - if the DCYF is doing it's job and knows that house was precluded earlier, a simple GAL ruling should suffice. It makes me wonder if the grandparents are attempting to prove they've cleaned up their act.
Sorry for your tough times
graciej
Do you know if the grandmother's attorney is court-appointed or if she is also paying out-of-pocket?
Our private attorney has filed a notice of intent to adopt. Now the agency's attorney is trying to talk her out of filing involuntary TPR, saying that the case moves to orphan's court and if we lose, the bio-dad gets custody on the spot. I can't believe that could be true.
We think that in Orphan's court the bio-parents would have to secure their own attorneys as well, which would level the playing field for us because with a court-appointed attorney, we would expect that they could file appeal after appeal until we are bankrupt.
gracieJ- the last part of what you are saying, that they would have to secure their own attorneys- is almost certainly wrong. I am not 100% positive of this (trying to think back to my criminal law days)- but I believe the termination of parental rights is one of those things for which you are entitled to an attorney. The specific court which it takes place in would not matter, the result would still be that their rights would have to be terminated for you to adopt.
I would hate to see you pursue a strategy counting on them not being able to have counsel.
I'm not from PA, but thought I'd comment.
We dealt with a foster/contested adoption, but with the bio parents.
We'd had the children as foster children for a year. DCS was filing for TPR. Bio mom had walked out of the picture pretty much from day 1. Had completed no services, didn't even start! Did a partial parenting assessment, tested pos at a drug screen, attended no visits, only attended 1 (initial) court date. Bio dad had been in jail and upon his release, was deported out of the country. DCS tried to locate him through the Mexican consulate here and they reported back they had no idea his location or whereabouts. The week before court to change goal to TPR, the courts and cw receive a 'homestudy' from the bio father that they apparently did. The consulate's office tried to say they had jurisdiction over the children as they were Mexican nationals (they were all born here, bio mom was also a citizen). We contacted a lawyer, as there were many issues w/ bio father and many lies being told. They pretty much tried to railroad the courts into taking the kids w/o bio dad having to prove anything similar to ICWA .
Anyway, we filed adoption for the kids before the juvenile courts had terminated rights on bios. Our was based on abandonment by the bios, as well as them being unfit.
The consulate hired a lawyer for bio dad. He did not pay a dime.
We spent well over $20k and went through a 2 1/2 year span, which included 5 full days of court (at roughly $3-4k per day in our lawyer fees).
In the end, we won. We'd do it all over again! We managed to scrape together whatever money, and our lawyer was great about letting us make a payment plan. The state reimbursed the $1500 per child, which did help. We never thought we'd have the money and when we started, we never dreamed it would be a 2 1/2 yr battle.
I very much believe if we had not hired a lawyer, the state would have just sent the kids to Mexico if only to not have to deal with any complications. Despite knowing bio dad was not a safe option for them.
As to gracieJ, I know our case took precedence over the juvenile case. It was b/c if the judge found in favor of our petition, agreeing that the bios had legally abandoned their children, then rights would have been terminated upon that motion. Therefore, the courts rolled everything together. DCS fought along side with us, as did the GAL. They testified, called witnesses, etc. We were the main petitioners, but they were also parties to the case.
Had the judge NOT ruled in favor of our petition, then DCS fully planned to take the case back to juvenile court, where they would again require bio dad to complete all the services and be able to show proof of a stable living environment for them. They would NOT have just handed custody right back over to the bio dad had we lost.
Also, even after the judge ruled in our favor, we still had to have the children dismissed from Juvenile court as children in need of services. They were always still under the care of the state, even during all that.
Feel free to ask here or in PM if you have any questions! We went through a whirlwind, but hope to help others facing similar situations!
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lakin11
I'm not from PA, but thought I'd comment.
We dealt with a foster/contested adoption, but with the bio parents.
We'd had the children as foster children for a year. DCS was filing for TPR. Bio mom had walked out of the picture pretty much from day 1. Had completed no services, didn't even start! Did a partial parenting assessment, tested pos at a drug screen, attended no visits, only attended 1 (initial) court date. Bio dad had been in jail and upon his release, was deported out of the country. DCS tried to locate him through the Mexican consulate here and they reported back they had no idea his location or whereabouts. The week before court to change goal to TPR, the courts and cw receive a 'homestudy' from the bio father that they apparently did. The consulate's office tried to say they had jurisdiction over the children as they were Mexican nationals (they were all born here, bio mom was also a citizen). We contacted a lawyer, as there were many issues w/ bio father and many lies being told. They pretty much tried to railroad the courts into taking the kids w/o bio dad having to prove anything similar to ICWA .
Anyway, we filed adoption for the kids before the juvenile courts had terminated rights on bios. Our was based on abandonment by the bios, as well as them being unfit.
The consulate hired a lawyer for bio dad. He did not pay a dime.
We spent well over $20k and went through a 2 1/2 year span, which included 5 full days of court (at roughly $3-4k per day in our lawyer fees).
In the end, we won. We'd do it all over again! We managed to scrape together whatever money, and our lawyer was great about letting us make a payment plan. The state reimbursed the $1500 per child, which did help. We never thought we'd have the money and when we started, we never dreamed it would be a 2 1/2 yr battle.
I very much believe if we had not hired a lawyer, the state would have just sent the kids to Mexico if only to not have to deal with any complications. Despite knowing bio dad was not a safe option for them.
As to gracieJ, I know our case took precedence over the juvenile case. It was b/c if the judge found in favor of our petition, agreeing that the bios had legally abandoned their children, then rights would have been terminated upon that motion. Therefore, the courts rolled everything together. DCS fought along side with us, as did the GAL. They testified, called witnesses, etc. We were the main petitioners, but they were also parties to the case.
Had the judge NOT ruled in favor of our petition, then DCS fully planned to take the case back to juvenile court, where they would again require bio dad to complete all the services and be able to show proof of a stable living environment for them. They would NOT have just handed custody right back over to the bio dad had we lost.
Also, even after the judge ruled in our favor, we still had to have the children dismissed from Juvenile court as children in need of services. They were always still under the care of the state, even during all that.
Feel free to ask here or in PM if you have any questions! We went through a whirlwind, but hope to help others facing similar situations!
Thank you!!
Just knowing that custody will not be handed over to FD immediately if we should lose our petition to terminate makes me feel better. I, too, worry about the finances, but don't know what else to do. The caseworker admitted in my home just a week ago that a lot of what is being done right now is in retaliation for us calling DPW. THAT concerns me greatly. They are essentially sacrificing the safety and well-being of a child to prove that their authority should not be questioned.
We are through with our court dates (3 in all) and now are waiting on the judges decision...I am 100% sure that it will be in our favor but the wait is annoying.
I am excited for the day that my little man will share our families last name!!!
Our attorney and caseworker believe that the court will rush our adoption date as long as grandma does not appeal!
mamalove23
We are through with our court dates (3 in all) and now are waiting on the judges decision...I am 100% sure that it will be in our favor but the wait is annoying.
I am excited for the day that my little man will share our families last name!!!
Our attorney and caseworker believe that the court will rush our adoption date as long as grandma does not appeal!
How did you make out?
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What finally happened?
We are getting ready to go through a long battle as well. Hoping you got good news on this.
So what happened was we spent 3 days in court (I testified for about 4 hours) and $15,000 in legal fees, the agency paid $2,000 back to us. AND WE WON OUR CASE!!!! The briefs were due May 24 and we did not get a decision until Aug 13...due to some vacations in the court house. The Judge was very firm in that my son regaurd me a mommy and my family as his family and his bio family was being selfish and had already proven that they were unable to keep him safe. At our adoption we had the same judge and he gave a nice little speech about how thrilled he was to be able to see this adoption after the whole battle and how wonderful our family is :) PM me if you want anymore details!!!:cheer: