Cant stop crying

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. A bad CW gets a bee in his/her bonnet (having NOTHING to do with the care a child is receiving or what is in the child's best interest) and they will move a child for no reason other than they want to. I've been involved in two cases where the judge eventually ordered that the CW could not move the child without agreement of the GAL program. If they didn't get our agreement, the CW would have to argue the case for moving the child in front of the judge. Given judges don't want anything to do with the placement process, that should say something about how badly the respective CWs were handling their cases. Neither of those CWs still have their jobs, but it can take a long time for a CW to be bad enough to lose their job. (Please note: This is not a slam of CWs in general -- I've worked with many awesome ones who do a job I could never do and do it with more grace and aplomb than I could ever muster.)

I am so sorry. That sounds like such a horrible, maddening experience. Treasure the time you spent with him and keep fighting for him. A child cant have too many people to love and fight for them, even if it doesn't turn out the way you hope. Good luck.

Yes, i agree that this child should be allowed to stay somewhere and bond. he was only with you for 3 months. typically bios don't get to have a say in what happens to the child, once they have had cps involvement. i mean, many times kids are in our homes for two or three or four or even more years and still get RU with parents. 3 months is nothing in the world of foster care.

Just taking a wild stab here, but maybe the CW is one of those RU at all costs types. Maybe she doesn't believe a child should be adopted out this young and wants to stretch things out to give the bio more time. Maybe she/he is holding out for the bio father. TPR could be complicated if there is no adoptive placement for the baby. Obviously, permanency with a non-relative is something she is fighting tooth and nail. There is a lot of info missing here and there could be a whole list of reasons this is going on. To PP, sorry for your heartbreak. And I am sorry you ended up on the wrong side of the system. Going to another county may be your only option going forward.

Hang in there! I've been in your shoes. We had a social worker threaten to remove our foster daughter (who we had been in our home from birth - 2 years old) because she was angry with me for complaining about her siblings foster home and demanding they get help for her oldest sibling. I hired an attorney, filed an emergency restraining order and they visiting judge wouldn't sign it - told my lawyer to come back the next morning. Our lawyer told us that CPS had gotten wind that we were filing the motion, to turn off my phone, leave our house for the night and that he would email me as soon as we had the order. Sure enough when we returned home the next day, there was a note on the door and numerous messages. They would have yanked her away - in retaliation - before the restraining order had been signed. Luckily the suit worked out in our favor and she is now our daughter. It was by far one of the scariest things I've ever done but so worth it. Praying for you and this sweet baby.

You mentioned TPR is happenning in March. TPR usually requires a pre-adoptive home with an approved homestudy. Have you already had a homestudy? A homestudy may take awhile, if not already done. From your post, it sounds like you might be adopting as a single mom in a small apartment. That is no reason for you not to be the pre-adoptive home but your SW may be biased towards placement in a two parent home where one parent stays home or the SW could be biased for some other reason.

It depends on the location. In my state there doesn't need to be a home lined up to TPR. Actually, in a lot of cases TPR can get sped up and they will worry about finding a home later.

If he was in a foster home that was wanting to adopt him I would not fight this because he has been gone from me for so long now but they are a couple in their 70's who just adopted three special needs little boys and do not have any intention of adopting any more children.

In regards to rainee's post... I have not have an adoptive homestudy but here in my county you do not have to already have an adoptive homestudy to be considered for adoption but rather you need to have taken steps towards it, including asking your csw for a homestudy, requesting de facto, and having room for a child. I recently moved into a two bedroom town house from my one bedroom apt so that I will pass a homestudy.

If anyone is interested here is a link to my blog that has the entire running story of Doc. [url=http://www.ohbabybird.tumblr.com]ohbabybird[/url] Placement of Doc starts on August 24 2012 in the timeline if you wish to jump directly to that date in the blog for times sake.

If a pre-adoptive home is not required for TPR in your state, it is still odd the social worker would avoid trying to find one by placing Doc with an elderly couple. There are private adoption agencies that work with couples who are trying to adopt from the state. Is it possible this SW wanted Doc to be legally free to be adopted from an agency?

You said you hired a lawyer, any news on if you might be getting Doc back?

The csw has no intent on RU with bio mom. There is no bio dad in the picture as mom is a street level prostitute and has no idea who the father is.

Just got a call from the lawyer, yes at 8:30pm on a Tuesday, she had great news! She will be sending the story to three local reports that she has known for years and just last week released an article about a family from my FFA who went through the exact same situation with all 4 of there adoption. In the case of their last adoption the csw was trying to remove a child from their home who they wanted to adopt. This child has many delays and autism. After having this child in their home for 2 years and starting the adoption process for him csw decided to fight the adoption claiming he was unadoptable and needed to be placed in an institution. The family, with the help of the lawyer, were able to finalize the adoption late last year and now they are fighting for his AAP rights to receive therapy that the county denied him. My name will be released within the news articles so my likely hood that I will ever be able to foster within the county that I live in is about 0% for the date it goes public. Unfortunately this will close many doors for me here in the county I live currently. But it is easy to change my name or sadly I will need to move in order to keep fostering. My county is skilled at retaliation and blacklisting those who fight them. The battle to adopt Doc will not be pretty but he is worth it!

TPR, in my county, is not contingent on having an adoptive home lined up.