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I need reassurance and some btdt. We had a termination trial that lasted 5 1/2 days. It spanned 3 months. "Our' side had 14 people testify which included 4 psychologists. "Their' side had one person testify in their behalf. All 4 psychologists testified the children should NEVER go home. The trauma they suffered was horrendous. All but the baby have PTSD. Here is where I need a few answers. The bio's have completed their plan. They got housing. Mom got a job. Great...right? Okay....Mom missed visits and her boss testified in court she volunteered to work so she would not have to go to visits. Dad has been arrested 3 times in the past year. They lied about going to food banks. They were told by multiple people not to claim their kids on their income tax. Guess what? Our's got thrown back because they did. Under oath...they were both caught in many many lies. It has been proven that even though they completed their classes they did not benefit. Mom's psych eval said she should NEVER parent. Dad's psych said he is not able to be rehabilitated. The kids have been in care for almost 23 months. We had our last trial date on June 12th. We knew the judge would take a long time because our GAL said he is very patient and thorough so as not to lose an appeal. (and they WILL appeal) My questions.....what are the chances he will send the kids home? (they have not even had an unsupervised visit yet. they only visit once a week for 3 hours. The judge decreased visits several months ago because of behaviors) IF he does send them home...is it immediate or do they continue as it was with a slow transition? How often is an appeal won? Do they get visits during an appeal? (If the answer to this is yes...I may have to throw in the towel. The behaviors after visits are so extreme) Everyone (GAL, prosecutor, and our agency) assures us this is going to termination but I am a first time foster parent and I still worry myself sick. I want to add...if I thought the kids would do okay if they went home I would be for RU but the bio's have proven over and over they cannot handle all four kids. Thanks.
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I'm sorry you are going through thisthe exact answers vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. no way to know for surethe fact that they not only have not done visits, but have made excuses as to why does NOT bode well for them. If you can't arrange a visit, how can you arrange to take care of them full time???best of luck to you
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We are also at TPR. Our trial is spread out over 5 weeks, which I thought was excessive. I can't imagine 3.5 months!In my area, there are monthly visits if TPR is appealed. Our bio will appeal. BUT, your CW and you can ask the judge to suspend visits during the appeal. That is our plan, because of behaviors after visits.I have heard that appeals are very rarely granted. In my area, the DAG will not go to TPR trial if she does not think the state can win. We had this issue in January when the trial was cancelled 3 days before it was scheduled. The DAG did not think she had enough evidence to win at trial; instead, a RU plan was put in place. This failed miserably and the state got enough evidence and more to proceed with trial.On an aside, our visit this week did not happen because they were in trial. No one called to schedule a make-up. The same thing will happen next week. I am wondering...hoping...praying that maybe visits will be suspended during the TPR trial? We have had SUCH a smooth week. It gives me hope of how much my FS could improve with permanency!!!