Relative adoption with ICPC advice

Hello, I am new to this community, and need some advice. We have been trying to adopt my husband's 3rd cousin from CA since January. We have completed the ICPC paperwork and have been approved on all levels. The child is in foster care and the foster family has made it known that they are seeking adoption as well. They filed for defacto parent status, effectively stalling the placement process. The CA caseworker had pledged her support to us but has not been very forthcoming with information. In June, we drove the nearly 2,000 miles to spend a week with this child and establish a bond, anticipating placement. We were also there for the court date, where the judge gave the fosters defacto parent status and told us that this would not give them the upper hand. He scheduled a placement hearing for 2 weeks later. The case worker was still supporting us and said that the placement would be contested and a trial date would be set for a few weeks after the hearing. The morning of the placement hearing, the case worker called me and told me the department was withdrawing their support and instead backing the foster family. The FF had begun taking the child to do visits with his 15 yo half brother, who was in long term group care. They had declared their intent to adopt him as well. We didn't know he was even available for adoption! We had no way to make it to the placement hearing that was happening in a couple hours. We waited for info on the trial date. When I finally got the case worker on the phone, she apologized and said that their had been no contest and the judge ruled for placement with the FF. There will be no trial. We are very upset and don't know what to do. We have the birth mother's blessing to adopt this child, we have done everything we were asked. While my husband is a 6th degree relative, he IS a relative. We have extensive family within 15 minutes of us, all relatives of this child. Can anyone offer any advice about our options at this point? The case worker has told us we can hire an attorney, but we aren't a legal part of this case and are not guaranteed a right for an attorney to participate in any hearings. Would an attorney benefit us at all? I am thankful for any help I can get!