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Short history-
We've had FD and FS for 19 mos. They are full sister and brother. Court TPR'd on FD last year, but court of appeals overturned back in July 2012, saying that bio mom had a bond with FD. Meanwhile, court terminated FR svcs on FS right around same time as TPR overturned on FD.
After court of appeals decision, everthing gets changed - new courtroom, new judge, new attorney for kids. CSW advised us to file for defacto status. We consulted an attorney who told us that anyone who would take our case was just out to get our money. Maybe that was something we needed to hear, but ouch nonetheless. Another attorney told us to go ahead and file, but he couldn't do anything for us until then.
We went to court on Tues and were granted the de facto status for both kids. Bio mom's atty objected, but judge ruled in our favor and appointed us an attorney right there. We spoke briefly with our new attorney who was totally frazzled, told us she knew nothing of the case (since it was just moved into that courtroom) and gave us her card. Now we have the contested 26 hearing for both kids coming up in less than 2 weeks. We don't know
whether to try to retain our own attorney or go with the one appointed to us. Anyone have any advice??
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If I could I'd try and use the court appointed attorney. Can you reach him/her? Maybe you can arrange a meeting to discuss the case or maybe you could even discuss the case by phone. See how you feel after a conversation. Hiring your own attorney could be very costly, but may end up being necessary depending on your court appointed attorney.
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We consulted with the court appointed attorney who told us that she would fight to get the case continued, and that the best we could hope for would be legal guardianship. She also said that going with a private attorney might be a better idea.Then we reached out to the other attorney who had initially told us that anyone who would take our case was just out for our money. We met with him yesterday, and we retained him. He has a strategy, but he also made it clear to us that we have an uphill battle. It's a strange case even by strange case standards.Anyway, we informed court appointed attorney we retained private counsel, and she replied that it was good because she had 250 cases!!Yes, we are taking a financial hit, but my peace of mind in knowing that we put 100% into our efforts is worth more than the cost will ever be.
Wow! Good for you. We have had de facto parent status for over a year and have gone back and forth with whether or not to hire an attorney. You only have to be in dependency court for five minutes to understand the court-appointed attorneys are overwhelmed with cases. There is NO way they can give each one the attention they deserve. At this point we fill that everyone understands the case and all are on the same page, with the exception of one bio's attorney who is just representing her client, so we have still not hired an attorney.Please, if you get a chance, let us know what happens and how things worked out having your own attorney. Best wishes for a great outcome for the kids.
Our attorney found out that in addition to our FD's TPR being overturned, our FS's TFR was also appealed and overturned, this was about 3 days before court, and as usual, nobody else on the case had any idea that it had happened. Ugh, what a heart dropping thing to hear when you think you are going to court to get a resolution.
So, court yesterday - we became legal guardians for our FD, and the case for our FS was continued for another month. That was the best outcome we could have hoped for considering the new circumstances, and it wouldn't have happened without our own attorney. He was going back and forth with everyone about everthing! We were at the courthouse for just shy of 7 hours. Still emotionally exhausted as a matter of fact.
Also part of the deal was weekly visits for bio-mom. I've never spoken to her in the 19 months that this has been going on, but what first was supposed to be a somewhat anonymous relationship has changed over the course of time. After much soul searching, we decided that it would be best if we extended our hands in friendship to bio-mom. She's young, she loves her kids, but she's not in a position to keep them safe.
We feel like getting a private family law attorney involved was a good decision for our situation. It's complex and pricey, but he knows his way around a courtroom.
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