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I am trying to help my sister get her 5 girls back. They have been placed with an adoptive couple through the dept of social services. We are trying to comply with the orevious measures set up to be completed by birth mother and would like to prevent adoption from going through until children can be replaced with birth mother. Are there any additional steps one can take. Have no money for attorney.
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The usual amount of time a birth parent is given to comply with the court-ordered plans is 6 months. This is often extended if the birth parent is making an obvious attempt and has succeeded in some of those goals.
Children, especially young children, are often placed into a foster-adoptive home during this time. That means that the adults in the home have agreed to be foster parents if the children are returned to the birth family, and adoptive parents if the children can not be returned.
If the court decides that the birth parent is not complying with the plan, then the first step is to "terminate the parental rights"--often called TPR. If this has not yet happened, then the adults caring for the girls are still considered foster parents. Children can NOT ever be adopted if their parents still have parental rights.
If this is what is going on right now--the girls are with a foster family and your sister still has her parental rights, then the best way of getting them back into her custody is for her to do everything the court is telling her she has to do. (which often can include getting a stable job, decent housing, dumping any abusive boyfriends/husbands, getting off drugs or alcohol, attending anger management therapy, parenting classes, consistently attending all allowed visits, etc.)
I really wouldn't worry about any "additional" steps--do first things first and comply with the plan as quickly as possible.
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