Skype

Have you ever seen a 1 year old Skype?

Well, I have now. During a CFT (Child Family Team meeting, everyone involved with the case calls in to discuss things) the father'a attorney pushed hard for Giggles and the father to Skype each other since Father is out-of-state. It is not required, but Father's attorney said "I'd hate to tell the judge that Reasonable Effort has not been met". It sounded like a threat to me, but I want to be able to stand before the judge knowing that everything has been done in order to try to reunify the family. 

However, in the 2 weeks that we've been skyping twice per week , Father has failed to call in twice! Of course I am keeping records, because I'm sure this will be discussed before the judge. But, it leaves me wondering. Is this a matter of "out of sight out of mind"? 

It just doesn't sit well with me. I was gone from home for 1 night and had to call home. Now, I talked to my eldest because she was still awake, (and I knew the Littles would be terrors to Grandma's phone!), but, if the only contact I had with my child was twice per week? I think I'd be sure to be available!

I guess we'll wait and see what happens!

Postponed

Well, there was supposed to be a termination of parental rights trial on August 12th. We got a letter in the mail a few days before saying "due to a court calendar conflict trial has been postponed" until the end of October. So, our bouncing baby boy is now over a year old, has not seen any biological family since early spring, and won't have permanency for more months. I guess we'll wait to see what happens. 

Case Plan Change!

     Friday we had court, again, for our little guy. It felt intensely emotional as I sat there and listened to each attorney lobby for what they felt was best.
     First the state (CPS) asking for a change in case plan to Severance and Adoption. The child has now been in care for over 6 months. During that time there have been multiple missed appointments by both parents, suspicion of drug use, inconsistent visitations and several new home addresses, and most recently a domestic violence charge.
     The Child's Attorney then agreed with the state and also asked for a case plan change.
    Mother's attorney began by telling the court that Mom's recent incarceration could be seen as a good thing, because it gives her a chance to work her case plan individually and she would like the court to give the parents 1-2 more months.
    Father's attorney also asked for 1-2 more months based on the fact that the parents are now separated and they should be able to individually prove themselves as fit parents. He went on to detail several reasons that Dad deserves more chances, such as his learning disability has prevented him from regulatory attending appointments and now his family is going to help him.
THEN it was time for them all to start over again. I just knew the judge was going to give them more time.
The State reminded that judge that recently we had a court hearing that the child attended and became quite inconsolable. The parents were not able to deal with it in a healthy manner and CPS had to step in.
The Child's attorney then reminded the judge that he had given a 30 day continuance last time in order for the parents to show a significant change in behavior.
I was waiting for one of the parent's attorney's to speak and the Judge suddenly said;
"The court finds it is in the best interest of the child to change the case plan to severance and adoption"
Now, we wait.