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A little background. We live in Florida and are attempting to have our nephew who was born in Alabama placed with us. He is 2 months old and was placed in foster care from the hospital. We found out that he had been taken in to care at the beginning of April and immediately made contact with DHR in Alabama and were able to make contact with the CW by the next day. By the 3rd day we sent all of our information that was requested to the CW. That was 39 days ago and the ICPC case has not been started. At the beginning of the contact with DHR I requested that an expedited ICPC be done due to his age and the fact that we are relatives. We met him for the first time at court this week and were told we can start visits in 2 weeks. Our visits will be 2 hours every other week.
We have adopted before but it was a very fast process and was done through the same county we live in so this is all very new to us. What kind of timeline should we be expecting and at what point do we start to push back even more to get things going? Is there someone above the CW and CW supervisor to report this too if it isn't being done in a timely manner, such as the ICPC office? I feel like we are losing so much bonding time and it has been very frustrating. Meanwhile the foster family has made it clear that they want to keep him and so they are bonding with him while all of this is taking place. I know that has to be very difficult knowing that family gets first rights to children if reunification doesn't happen so I feel terrible for them. They are very sweet.
I have made DHR aware that I have seen in research that a child can visit with relatives up to 30 days before the relatives are approved and asked if we could arrange to pick the baby up on Friday and take him back on Sunday so that our family could have time with him. I am awaiting an answer. Many times when I ask multiple questions in emails to CW I get one or no answers back. She never answers all of my questions and usually seems like we are the last on her list to process. She seemed very sweet when we met her at court but I need some action here. I need to know that this case has been started and passed off to Florida to being the process. Help please. Thanks.
Last update on May 18, 10:16 pm by Jenifer Higginbothem.
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Jenifer Higginbothem
A little background. We live in Florida and are attempting to have our nephew who was born in Alabama placed with us. He is 2 months old and was placed in foster care from the hospital. We found out that he had been taken in to care at the beginning of April and immediately made contact with DHR in Alabama and were able to make contact with the CW by the next day. By the 3rd day we sent all of our information that was requested to the CW. That was 39 days ago and the ICPC case has not been started. At the beginning of the contact with DHR I requested that an expedited ICPC be done due to his age and the fact that we are relatives. We met him for the first time at court this week and were told we can start visits in 2 weeks. Our visits will be 2 hours every other week.
We have adopted before but it was a very fast process and was done through the same county we live in so this is all very new to us. What kind of timeline should we be expecting and at what point do we start to push back even more to get things going? Is there someone above the CW and CW supervisor to report this too if it isn't being done in a timely manner, such as the ICPC office? I feel like we are losing so much bonding time and it has been very frustrating. Meanwhile the foster family has made it clear that they want to keep him and so they are bonding with him while all of this is taking place. I know that has to be very difficult knowing that family gets first rights to children if reunification doesn't happen so I feel terrible for them. They are very sweet.
I have made DHR aware that I have seen in research that a child can visit with relatives up to 30 days before the relatives are approved and asked if we could arrange to pick the baby up on Friday and take him back on Sunday so that our family could have time with him. I am awaiting an answer. Many times when I ask multiple questions in emails to CW I get one or no answers back. She never answers all of my questions and usually seems like we are the last on her list to process. She seemed very sweet when we met her at court but I need some action here. I need to know that this case has been started and passed off to Florida to being the process. Help please. Thanks.
Hi Jennifer!
We are almost at the exact phase in this ICPC journey! My cousins baby was born on March 19, 2018, he was taken straight from the hospital to a foster family. We have showed interest in adopting him from the beginning. However he is in Kentucky, and we live in Illinois. We have visited him one time, and we’re only allowed 30 mins after driving for 5 hours. We where told the ICPC would not be started until after a court date at the end of July, we have asked for the to expedite the case as well since he is only two months old. We asked his case worker about visits and she said there was not going to be any unsupervised visits with us until we have a home study done, which I told her didn’t seem like that’s what the law said. She pretty much said it wasn’t going to happen. So we have been waiting over a month to get the ICPC paper work started and still have another month to wait. On top of all this the foster family is showing an interest in wanting to keep him away from any family and told us they will fight for him, and the longer he is in their care the better chance they have of getting him. I really hope everything works out for you!! Please update me on what happens with your situation!
Amanda
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No experience with ICPC but you both need to go to the top. You need it done as quick as possible; the longer they take, the more bonded the babies become with their respective foster families.
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