Out of state relative care question?

Immediately contact the children's social worker/child advocate. DEMAND an ICPC immediately!!!!!! Florida has significant challenges in it's foster care system and is very capable of having your young relatives adopted out of the family. The longer the children are with foster parents, the stronger their argument will be "the children are bonded to us". Go to Florida to see/visit the children. Do not take no for an answer. Get an attorney in Florida also and intervene in the case so you are kept informed about all decisions made in court. Insist on contact information with the foster parents--offer to buy a track phone if necessary. You can add minutes to the phone online. Schedule regular calls. I cannot express how important it is that you push very hard on this issue. We nearly lost our nephew because we were polite and followed all the rules and directives given by the people doing our home study and the child advocate in Florida--the foster parents were very insistent he was "bonded" to them and they persuaded a very weak-minded GAL to advocate for them in court. Fortunately, we had a happy ending. Our adoption was final four years ago last fall. Go call the social worker now, and look online for a good family law attorney.

Mama_mo, has the child been removed and taken into state custody or not? This is confusing given your other thread.

Hadley - No, they are not yet in care, but given everything that is going on, from what the family members that have witnessed what goes on there have told us, there is a very good chance that they will be taken into care (they just don't want to be the "bad guys" who call it in). The plan right now is for my mother and I to fly out there and visit to gain firsthand knowledge and to also try to talk with them about relocating or come up with some other viable solutions. My mother and I are also calling it in. She is calling the Florida hotline and I will be calling the CPI directly. We hope to go out there in a couple of weeks but aren't sure whether to call before or after (or during) our visit. We are hoping that this doesn't end up in an adoption situation. We are hoping that my cousin and her husband can get their lives back on track and believe that it could all work out well if they were able to go to rehab and get some help on parenting. However, if they aren't able to get themselves better then we would of course want to adopt the kids. I decided to ask this in the Florida forum specifically because I thought I could get some insight on the system there, which could help us make our decision of how we will try to help. I have been given different ideas on how to handle the situation and each one has it's pros and cons. I just want the kids to be safe and have some sense of security which can be incredible difficult in these kinds of situations. I want the parents to get help and get clean so that they can be a family again, but my number one concern is for the children (especially the unborn child whose life is in jeopardy right now because of alcohol and drug use). That is why I am asking for advice and others' experiences...the more knowledge I can equip myself with, the better prepared I am to make the best decision/plan possible.

If you can keep them OUT of CPS then do it....Once they are in custody of CPS it's a whole new ballgame and you have to deal with CPS. We are a relative living in Florida and I have to tell you from what I've seen here it's not so simple as calling CPS and they will place with you. If you are out of state you will be required to have an ICPC done to move to your state. That can take months. Is it possible to take custody at birth? Are they willing to allow that or is this a situation where bparents are refusing?

Hey there I am also dealing with this. My cousin had a baby with a girl in Florida. They are now living in Texas, I live in Georgia, and the baby is in foster care in Florida. I have been approved for my home study by the county I live in now I am awaiting for the approval on the state level. I no it's alot of work unless you get her to sign them over a birth. Good luck

I would add, go to the national CASA site, put in that zip code, and contact the most local CASA organization. Make sure there is a CASA assigned to this case. Trying to alert them before the children enter care is wise, also, I believe. You should be able to ask for advice from them also.[url=http://www.casaforchildren.org]National CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocate Association - CASA for Children: Advocating for Abused and Neglected Children[/url] Remember this language: It's legal, it means a lot, and you do want to do this ASAP. (Gains you access to more legal paperwork, makes you a party to the case.) The advice to get an attorney is good, I would ask CASA for an atty recommendation. The wrong attorney, you might as well put $20K in a pile and burn it....

Hi. I live in Sanford, FL. I am going through the classes. You can PM me....I may have some people or numbers I can get you in touch with. Hope everything works out.

Oops, the language to remember is RobinKay's "intervene in the case". Sorry, can't edit at this time, too late.