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I will try to make this short but it is a very complicated situation. I had 4 foster to adopt kids in my home for over a year. The oldest had emotional and behavior problems and needed to be placed in a different home. Everyone (SW) seemed to agree. Oldest child when for a week why I was on a business trip. She returned Sunday, on Monday afternoon they called to tell me that they would be removing all the children from my home and sending them to the woman the oldest stayed with for a week. They picked them all up 15 hours later. They did state on the call that they wanted to keep all the children together, however we had already discussed that once the oldest got treatment she could return, we also were expecting her to come visit on weekends, holidays, etc. They picked them up on Tuesday and they TPR's on Thursday.
Thursday I get a knock on the door and its a CPS investigator saying that she was investigating me for leaving the oldest child unsupervised in a car while grocery shopping. (Never happened) But evidently the oldest reported this to the trial foster mother in passing. They asked a couple of questions but were a little dumbfounded that the child wasn't here to be interviewed. They hadn't know that the children were removed.
30 days later I call to find out the status of the complaint. The investigator says she has been trying for 30 days to contact the county to get the interview of the oldest. (They moved these children to another county). No one will respond. Its looking to me like this complaint was made to justify taking the children out the house. If they thought it was so important why aren't they following up on it? Also the person who made this supposed complaint is the one who now has all 4 children. The younger 3 don't know her at all.
I have hired an attorney but I am afraid that it's too late. This particular county has always done whatever they wanted to do and I guess if I am no longer their foster parent I have no standing to fight for them. Is there any hope? We were willing to sign yesterday to adopt these kids, now they are in a home that I am sure is not going to adopt them right away. They younger ones have developmental delays.
I sent emails to the director of dss, the commissioner, the guardian ad litem, the guardian ad litems boss. They set up a conference call with me with the SW and he supervisor to tell me that they weren't going to return the children when the allegation is unfounded. I called the directors boss, she assured me she would have the director call me back.....crickets....no call. I emailed the commissioner to follow up and he didn't return my email at all. The guardian ad litem told me that she doesn't believe what happened was best for the children but she has no say and dss ultimately makes the decision on where the children are placed. The guardian ad litems boss advised me to contact the state and file a complaint and ask for a sit down with people who can actually make decisions. That's when I hired the lawyer. Now I just worried that it won't matter. How is he going to get standing? Anybody have any advice? Desperate in NC.
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I will try to make this short but it is a very complicated situation. I had 4 foster to adopt kids in my home for over a year. The oldest had emotional and behavior problems and needed to be placed in a different home. Everyone (SW) seemed to agree. Oldest child when for a week why I was on a business trip. She returned Sunday, on Monday afternoon they called to tell me that they would be removing all the children from my home and sending them to the woman the oldest stayed with for a week. They picked them all up 15 hours later. They did state on the call that they wanted to keep all the children together, however we had already discussed that once the oldest got treatment she could return, we also were expecting her to come visit on weekends, holidays, etc. They picked them up on Tuesday and they TPR's on Thursday. Thursday I get a knock on the door and its a CPS investigator saying that she was investigating me for leaving the oldest child unsupervised in a car while grocery shopping. (Never happened) But evidently the oldest reported this to the trial foster mother in passing. They asked a couple of questions but were a little dumbfounded that the child wasn't here to be interviewed. They hadn't know that the children were removed.30 days later I call to find out the status of the complaint. The investigator says she has been trying for 30 days to contact the county to get the interview of the oldest. (They moved these children to another county). No one will respond. Its looking to me like this complaint was made to justify taking the children out the house. If they thought it was so important why aren't they following up on it? Also the person who made this supposed complaint is the one who now has all 4 children. The younger 3 don't know her at all.I have hired an attorney but I am afraid that it's too late. This particular county has always done whatever they wanted to do and I guess if I am no longer their foster parent I have no standing to fight for them. Is there any hope? We were willing to sign yesterday to adopt these kids, now they are in a home that I am sure is not going to adopt them right away. They younger ones have developmental delays.I sent emails to the director of dss, the commissioner, the guardian ad litem, the guardian ad litems boss. They set up a conference call with me with the SW and he supervisor to tell me that they weren't going to return the children when the allegation is unfounded. I called the directors boss, she assured me she would have the director call me back.....crickets....no call. I emailed the commissioner to follow up and he didn't return my email at all. The guardian ad litem told me that she doesn't believe what happened was best for the children but she has no say and dss ultimately makes the decision on where the children are placed. The guardian ad litems boss advised me to contact the state and file a complaint and ask for a sit down with people who can actually make decisions. That's when I hired the lawyer. Now I just worried that it won't matter. How is he going to get standing? Anybody have any advice? Desperate in NC.
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What does your attorney say? Have they made any efforts to set up any meetings? This is an allegation on your file and once they are on there, they never go away, even if it's unsubstantiated later. That definitely affects your likelihood of ever being able to adopt any kids, not just these. I think you really need to light some fire under your attorney to do more advocating for you.I do have to say it sickens me how foster parents treat other foster parents this way. They more than anyone should know how difficult it is to care for these kids (and how the kids know if they lie, they get a ton of attention - though they usually don't expect all the negative that comes from that). Unless it's a very, very clear case of abuse/neglect that any reasonable person would agree is abuse/neglect, foster parents should be more understanding & supportive of one another instead of allowing themselves to be turned into county sanctioned spies against other foster families. It hurts the kids in the end and keeps the $$ flowing for the machine that's benefitting from these kids. I'm sorry this happened to you. Please contact your attorney and if they are not responsive or don't have experience with CPS, try to find one who does - it makes a big difference. You probably won't get the kids bafhu3, but they can at least put a big note in your file about this allegation so it doesn't affect you if you want to continue fostering.