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So incredibly frustrated. We are planning a huge vacation with foster children out of state. Mother is not allowing us, and the SW is going to try to get a court order. In the meantime, the price of tickets are going up daily. Due to work schedules, we can only go on certain days. We have had the kids for 2.5 years. I hope we can bring them with. Anyone else go through this much drama? Also, case plan has been TPR with adoption by us. Mother is appealing.
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Oh no! Hopefully they can get things moving quickly.
I just went out of state to go camping this past weekend with my two boys and got the okays from their caseworkers very quickly. I don't even know if they got permission from the parents, it was so fast! One of the boys' case worker told me the day after I asked him that we were all clear and he just needed a couple more details so he could print off the release form I'd need if there was an emergency. I've only had theses guys two and two and a half months and one has autism and many related special needs. I can't imagine their caseworkers not being able to overrule the parents if they'd been with me for 2.5 years and headed toward TPR!
Lucky! I asked this past week to take the kids to a state over to a park that is three hours away we were staying over to enjoy 2 days of the park and was told NO! by CW because children are meant to have visits with older siblings. I was like wow 1 weekend well rather (Saturday is the only day they see the kids for 2 hours ) and she said NO! I have had the kids for over 1.5 yr I thought it unfair.
The price of airline tickets go up daily. My husband thought we shouldn't go without the foster children, but our biological children would be heartbroken. Everything I read talked about how important it is to treat the foster children like your own and to take them with you on family vacations. I am so tired of the challenges of this case.
That would be so frustrating! We are fortunate because our SW pretty much says yes to any trip (in or out of state) that we want to go on.
Just a thought about your bio kiddos - would they be able to enjoy a trip knowing that their foster siblings had to go into a respite situation while the rest of the family was on vacation? It never ceases to amaze me how caring and selfless most kids are when given a choice. Just a thought. I'm really glad that I am not in your shoes, having to make this kind of decision - these kind of rules just end up hurting the kids in foster care - here your kids are with a family willing to spend the money, time and effort on them and they are unable to reap the benefits of all that love because their bio parents are feeling the need to be passive aggressive..... So frustrating! Good luck to you!
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How frustrating!
Have you tried talking to the law guardian? Here the caseworker can approve anything up to 72 hours, in or out of state, as long as it does not interfere with a visit. Anything over 72 hours or that makes the kids miss a visit requires either bio parent approval or a court order.
We are in a similar situation-- long term placement. We have taken the children on all our vacations-- in and out of state and across the country. The parents have never approved a vacation. The court has always approved the vacation. Our law guardian is the one who presents the vacation dates to the judge for approval. The judges like the kids to be part of the family so they always approve. The missed visits must be made up.
Maybe your law guardian can give you an idea of whether or not the vacation will be approved by the court. It helps if you know when the next court date is--though our law guardian said they can go before the judge to ask about vacation between court dates. That does require a fair amount of notice.
Good luck!
The judge will likely override the parent's objection. Especially if you offer some sort of make-up or alternate visitation for any they will miss while gone. I have been in this situation and had a good outcome. There has to be a really good reason for the kids not to go for them to disallow their travel with you out of state. Hang in there.
Vicky.
Thank you for your replies. The kids are now allowed to go. Thanks to the judge and GAL. Of course the price of tickets have gone up to almost double, but at least we can bring them. And yes, we always volunteered make-up visits. Now I just need advice to keep a handful of littles busy for an eight hour flight. ߘ