PO Box for contact with BM?

DSS had me set up a PO box in a town that I did not live in. I did several towns away that I pass on my way home from work each day. In the end, the open adoption was not signed, TPR was filed, TPR granted, TPR is now being appealed! I recommend paying for it monthly so you do not end up losing money like I did.

Great idea rosef98!!! When we were in the process of adopting our foster kids the CW made us get a separate phone number dedicated for the birth family to be able to stay in contact with the kids. First of all the birth family never used the number to contact us and then our kids went back after our adoption was challenged and we lost after the second round of appeals. So we now have a contract for an extra phone that we don't need and don't use. The only one who ever called the number was the state CW to make sure that we had it. Live and learn.

We did the same-set up a PO Box in a town near us. We checkedit every month. could have checked it more because we frequently went to the town.

We have an open adoption with our DD's birth mother. We set up a PO box at the UPS store in a town near ours, where we shop and can check the box regularly. I'm confused why the CW is saying you would set up a PO Box for only a year or two. Is the case going to mediation to have the birth mother voluntarily relinquish? Or are they proceeding to a TPR trial?

We have a P.O. box for our two youngest birthfamilies (two different families). I have only recieved two birthday letters from one family. It has been nice to have a seperate mailing address for my outgoing yearly letter. I also set up a seperate email for the birthfamilies to write if they wanted and I have recieved a few more email over that same time period.

Why do you opt to use a PO Box instead of email? It seems that email would be more private and less expensive.

PO Boxes are cheap($18 a yr were I live). No spam, the only thing to ever makes it into the PO Box would be mail from the family. Email can become too personal and it opens the door to having contact more often. It's so easy to send an email and then expect the other person to be checking it every day, but with a PO Box, there is a wider gap between the families. If they want to contact the new family, they must actually make an effort to write. It also gives time to establish how the contact will proceed into the future. If the PO Box works out well and they abide by the rules, then it might be possible to open the contact more in the future.

P.O. Box also allows for physical things to be sent...birthday presents and such. I had one family state they wanted to send gifts but I haven't gotten anything yet. I also have sent out letters with pictures and it was nice to have a P.O. box as the returning address. You know I am sure if the families really wanted to hunt us down they could as our case worker gave them all our personal information with our physical address and phone number. :( She claimed it was an honest mistake.