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Just wanted to share a pic of my grandson. His name is Kirk. He lives w my oldest and came home for Thanksgiving break.
20231124_210958.jpg
 
apryl29 said:
Interesting. I'm going to have to look into this. I'd seen the side wall panels before but I don't want my mean girls hogging it. Hanging it above sounds like a good solution. We're down to 7 so the community heat is an issue now. Winter arrived today and my younger kid is worried her favorite chicken is going to die.

So glad to hear Bob was able to go home. I hope he keeps improving & things settle down for you both.
Click to expand...
Thank you and yes, we are all hoping he gets better :hugs
 
Hi folks!

Things have been crazy here. It feels like everything is happening all at once. I’ve been diagnosed with an extremely overactive thyroid. Which is odd because I’m a good 50lbs overweight. I’m going through a bunch of tests now to figure out what is going on.

We also finally got my youngest the prescription for a medication that we think will actually help his horrible eczema, not mask it like steroids do. Poor guy has had some eczema since he was 6 months but after the first time he got Covid, it got much worse. The medication is Dupixent. You have to go through so much for them to actually prescribe it. For the past 8 months, it’s been horrible and spread over his arms, legs and a few spots on his body. We are hoping this works. He’s so miserable sometimes.

We also had the termination disposition hearing for our foster kids. The first part of the hearing was in November.
We originally thought this was going to be the day that they would make a final decision but that wasn’t the case. The dad has a good lawyer, a great lawyer. The lawyer that everyone deserves to have. The prosecutor and the kids GAL (Guardian ad litem who is supposed to represent the kids best interests), not so much. And the kids case worker is an overwhelmed crisis worker, fresh out of college, who thinks that if we get people the right services, as long as they aren’t physically abusive, they should be able to take care of their kids.

There was almost two hours of testimony from the visitation supervisor, the parenting provider, the psychiatrist who evaluated them a few months after the kids were taken and the caseworker.

It all boils down to this, the parents can’t keep a clean living environment for the kids, the mom hasn’t made any progress towards getting her identification so she can get residency in the US. The state has even offered to pay for her residency paperwork. The parents have only been giving them fast food on visits. They aren’t benefiting from the help the state is giving them and aren’t making the necessary improvements in their lives.

The dads lawyer picked away at the state’s case. Trying to make it sound like the house was just a little messy and just not quite up to the standards of the case worker or the visitation supervisor. The state presented no pictures, only testimony as to how the parents can’t keep up with the cleaning.

The state also did not present evidence as to how malnourished, dirty, and neglected the kids were. Dad’s lawyer made it sound like they’d only been a bit skinny and hadn’t had a bath in a bit. The older kid had a roach removed from their ear, they were also below 1 percentile in weight but close to 50th in height. You could see every rib.

All the testimonies said the kids are bonded to their parents and the visits. What kid wouldn’t be bonded when the parents that neglected you is now paying attention to you more and buying you presents at the store almost every visit.

The judge ordered a continuation of the hearing and ordered the case worker to immediately go take pictures of the residence and for the state to come up with evidence as to why this is a termination case and not a custodial termination case. Meaning the parents would still maintain their visitation rights and the kids wouldn’t be available for adoption.

We found out a few days later that the parents residence was a complete and utter disaster and there were fleas and roaches in evidence. It was so bad that the mom, who stated that the house the kids were originally removed from that had roaches crawling over all the walls all the time was “a little messy” admitted that the house was bad.

We also talked to the kids’ therapist and she was completely against continuing visits after termination or doing a partial termination of rights because it would confuse the kids a lot to see their parents but not ever be able to go home to them. She wrote a letter outlining her recommendations for what would be in the kids best interests and sent it to me and the case worker because she can’t communicate to the GAL unless the case worker gives her a release for that, which she didn’t do, I called the GAL and said I had a letter from the kids’ therapist and asked her if she wanted me to forward it to her. She responded that she had it and already filed it with the court. I thought that was the best I could hope for because I hadn’t heard anything about them sending the kids therapist a subpoena.

DH and I got to court Friday morning and we got let in as the judge was coming up on the bench. After we were settled for a bit, the kids therapist walks into court. I was never more relieved and happy to see anyone else as I was to see her. Apparently they subpoenaed her at 3pm the day before. But she made it! I guess once the GAL and the prosecutor saw the therapist’s letter, they decided they needed her to testify. When the case worker mentioned the therapist’s recommendation letter during her testimony, the dad’s lawyer stood up and objected to it on the grounds that the therapist wasn’t there to testify about the contents of the letter. But she was there and they called her.

She really clinched the case. She talked about the kids’ diagnoses, including PTSD from witnessing domestic violence in their home and their developmental delays from neglect in their early years. We also heard that she asked the kids what they would want to see happen and they said they would like to stay with us but still see their parents. That was surprising because we hadn’t heard that they wanted to stay with us before. She then clarified that most kids, no matter the circumstances, will have unconditional love for their parents but in the long term, continuing visitation until permanency is reached will just confuse them and hinder them with being able to bond with us as their prospective adoptive parents, especially since they both have trouble retaining information. Also they don’t know what kind of damage the parents could do by saying things to the kids during these visits.

So, the judge ordered that since the parents should be able to make use of the services provided to them and lack the will to see things through, that their rights should be terminated. He also didn’t allow for post termination visitation as it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the kids.

I’m so relieved! I’m so glad I was able to advocate for the kids and get their best interest heard in court. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve signed with relief since we left court.

Now we just have to wait out the appeal period. The parents have 30 days to file and the Supreme Court of WV has 60 days to answer. The court hearing for permanency will be in February. I think that is to move their case to adoption rather than foster.

We are under no illusions that this will be easy, but we aren’t in limbo anymore.

It still feels very unreal. Today, I texted the lady who has been supervising the kids’ visits to ask if she’s heard from the case worker or not, and she said that the case worker did call and say services are no longer needed and the agency the visitation supervisor works for has closed out the case in their systems. It still feels like they should be getting picked up for visits tomorrow but that’s not happening anymore.

We are working with the kids’ therapist on how to best help them understand that they won’t be getting visits now. We aren’t going to tell them everything just in case the appeal does go somewhere, but we can’t just leave them hanging.
 
Last edited:
Redhead Rae said:
Hi folks!

Things have been crazy here. It feels like everything is happening all at once. I’ve been diagnosed with an extremely overactive thyroid. Which is odd because I’m a good 50lbs overweight. I’m going through a bunch of tests now to figure out what is going on.

We also finally got my youngest the prescription for a medication that we think will actually help his horrible eczema, not mask it like steroids do. Poor guy has had some eczema since he was 6 months but after the first time he got Covid, it got much worse. The medication is Dupixent. You have to go through so much for them to actually prescribe it. For the past 8 months, it’s been horrible and spread over his arms, legs and a few spots on his body. We are hoping this works. He’s so miserable sometimes.

We also had the termination disposition hearing for our foster kids. The first part of the hearing was in November.
We originally thought this was going to be the day that they would make a final decision but that wasn’t the case. The dad has a good lawyer, a great lawyer. The lawyer that everyone deserves to have. The prosecutor and the kids GAL (Guardian ad litem who is supposed to represent the kids best interests), not so much. And the kids case worker is an overwhelmed crisis worker, fresh out of college, who thinks that if we get people the right services, as long as they aren’t physically abusive, they should be able to take care of their kids.

There was almost two hours of testimony from the visitation supervisor, the parenting provider, the psychiatrist who evaluated them a few months after the kids were taken and the caseworker.

It all boils down to this, the parents can’t keep a clean living environment for the kids, the mom hasn’t made any progress towards getting her identification so she can get residency in the US. The state has even offered to pay for her residency paperwork. The parents have only been giving them fast food on visits. They aren’t benefiting from the help the state is giving them and aren’t making the necessary improvements in their lives.

The dads lawyer picked away at the state’s case. Trying to make it sound like the house was just a little messy and just not quite up to the standards of the case worker or the visitation supervisor. The state presented no pictures, only testimony as to how the parents can’t keep up with the cleaning.

The state also did not present evidence as to how malnourished, dirty, and neglected the kids were. Dad’s lawyer made it sound like they’d only been a bit skinny and hadn’t had a bath in a bit. The older kid had a roach removed from their ear, they were also below 1 percentile in weight but close to 50th in height. You could see every rib.

All the testimonies said the kids are bonded to their parents and the visits. What kid wouldn’t be bonded when the parents that neglected you is now paying attention to you more and buying you presents at the store almost every visit.

The judge ordered a continuation of the hearing and ordered the case worker to immediately go take pictures of the residence and for the state to come up with evidence as to why this is a termination case and not a custodial termination case. Meaning the parents would still maintain their visitation rights and the kids wouldn’t be available for adoption.

We found out a few days later that the parents residence was a complete and utter disaster and there were fleas and roaches in evidence. It was so bad that the mom, who stated that the house the kids were originally removed from that had roaches crawling over all the walls all the time was “a little messy” admitted that the house was bad.

We also talked to the kids’ therapist and she was completely against continuing visits after termination or doing a partial termination of rights because it would confuse the kids a lot to see their parents but not ever be able to go home to them. She wrote a letter outlining her recommendations for what would be in the kids best interests and sent it to me and the case worker because she can’t communicate to the GAL unless the case worker gives her a release for that, which she didn’t do, I called the GAL and said I had a letter from the kids’ therapist and asked her if she wanted me to forward it to her. She responded that she had it and already filed it with the court. I thought that was the best I could hope for because I hadn’t heard anything about them sending the kids therapist a subpoena.

DH and I got to court Friday morning and we got let in as the judge was coming up on the bench. After we were settled for a bit, the kids therapist walks into court. I was never more relieved and happy to see anyone else as I was to see her. Apparently they subpoenaed her at 3pm the day before. But she made it! I guess once the GAL and the prosecutor saw the therapist’s letter, they decided they needed her to testify. When the case worker mentioned the therapist’s recommendation letter during her testimony, the dad’s lawyer stood up and objected to it on the grounds that the therapist wasn’t there to testify about the contents of the letter. But she was there and they called her.

She really clinched the case. She talked about the kids’ diagnoses, including PTSD from witnessing domestic violence in their home and their developmental delays from neglect in their early years. We also heard that she asked the kids what they would want to see happen and they said they would like to stay with us but still see their parents. That was surprising because we hadn’t heard that they wanted to stay with us before. She then clarified that most kids, no matter the circumstances, will have unconditional love for their parents but in the long term, continuing visitation until permanency is reached will just confuse them and hinder them with being able to bond with us as their prospective adoptive parents, especially since they both have trouble retaining information. Also they don’t know what kind of damage the parents could do by saying things to the kids during these visits.

So, the judge ordered that since the parents should be able to make use of the services provided to them and lack the will to see things through, that their rights should be terminated. He also didn’t allow for post termination visitation as it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the kids.

I’m so relieved! I’m so glad I was able to advocate for the kids and get their best interest heard in court. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve signed with relief since we left court.

Now we just have to wait out the appeal period. The parents have 30 days to file and the Supreme Court of WV has 60 days to answer. The court hearing for permanency will be in February. I think that is to move their case to adoption rather than foster.

We are under no illusions that this will be easy, but we aren’t in limbo anymore.

It still feels very unreal. Today, I texted the lady who has been supervising the kids’ visits to ask if she’s heard from the case worker or not, and she said that the case worker did call and say services are no longer needed and the agency the visitation supervisor works for has closed out the case in their systems. It still feels like they should be getting picked up for visits tomorrow but that’s not happening anymore.

We are working with the kids’ therapist on how to best help them understand that they won’t be getting visits now. We aren’t going to tell them everything just in case the appeal does go somewhere, but we can’t just leave them hanging.
Click to expand...
What an ordeal for all.
Prayers for strength 🙏
 
Redhead Rae said:
Hi folks!

Things have been crazy here. It feels like everything is happening all at once. I’ve been diagnosed with an extremely overactive thyroid. Which is odd because I’m a good 50lbs overweight. I’m going through a bunch of tests now to figure out what is going on.

We also finally got my youngest the prescription for a medication that we think will actually help his horrible eczema, not mask it like steroids do. Poor guy has had some eczema since he was 6 months but after the first time he got Covid, it got much worse. The medication is Dupixent. You have to go through so much for them to actually prescribe it. For the past 8 months, it’s been horrible and spread over his arms, legs and a few spots on his body. We are hoping this works. He’s so miserable sometimes.

We also had the termination disposition hearing for our foster kids. The first part of the hearing was in November.
We originally thought this was going to be the day that they would make a final decision but that wasn’t the case. The dad has a good lawyer, a great lawyer. The lawyer that everyone deserves to have. The prosecutor and the kids GAL (Guardian ad litem who is supposed to represent the kids best interests), not so much. And the kids case worker is an overwhelmed crisis worker, fresh out of college, who thinks that if we get people the right services, as long as they aren’t physically abusive, they should be able to take care of their kids.

There was almost two hours of testimony from the visitation supervisor, the parenting provider, the psychiatrist who evaluated them a few months after the kids were taken and the caseworker.

It all boils down to this, the parents can’t keep a clean living environment for the kids, the mom hasn’t made any progress towards getting her identification so she can get residency in the US. The state has even offered to pay for her residency paperwork. The parents have only been giving them fast food on visits. They aren’t benefiting from the help the state is giving them and aren’t making the necessary improvements in their lives.

The dads lawyer picked away at the state’s case. Trying to make it sound like the house was just a little messy and just not quite up to the standards of the case worker or the visitation supervisor. The state presented no pictures, only testimony as to how the parents can’t keep up with the cleaning.

The state also did not present evidence as to how malnourished, dirty, and neglected the kids were. Dad’s lawyer made it sound like they’d only been a bit skinny and hadn’t had a bath in a bit. The older kid had a roach removed from their ear, they were also below 1 percentile in weight but close to 50th in height. You could see every rib.

All the testimonies said the kids are bonded to their parents and the visits. What kid wouldn’t be bonded when the parents that neglected you is now paying attention to you more and buying you presents at the store almost every visit.

The judge ordered a continuation of the hearing and ordered the case worker to immediately go take pictures of the residence and for the state to come up with evidence as to why this is a termination case and not a custodial termination case. Meaning the parents would still maintain their visitation rights and the kids wouldn’t be available for adoption.

We found out a few days later that the parents residence was a complete and utter disaster and there were fleas and roaches in evidence. It was so bad that the mom, who stated that the house the kids were originally removed from that had roaches crawling over all the walls all the time was “a little messy” admitted that the house was bad.

We also talked to the kids’ therapist and she was completely against continuing visits after termination or doing a partial termination of rights because it would confuse the kids a lot to see their parents but not ever be able to go home to them. She wrote a letter outlining her recommendations for what would be in the kids best interests and sent it to me and the case worker because she can’t communicate to the GAL unless the case worker gives her a release for that, which she didn’t do, I called the GAL and said I had a letter from the kids’ therapist and asked her if she wanted me to forward it to her. She responded that she had it and already filed it with the court. I thought that was the best I could hope for because I hadn’t heard anything about them sending the kids therapist a subpoena.

DH and I got to court Friday morning and we got let in as the judge was coming up on the bench. After we were settled for a bit, the kids therapist walks into court. I was never more relieved and happy to see anyone else as I was to see her. Apparently they subpoenaed her at 3pm the day before. But she made it! I guess once the GAL and the prosecutor saw the therapist’s letter, they decided they needed her to testify. When the case worker mentioned the therapist’s recommendation letter during her testimony, the dad’s lawyer stood up and objected to it on the grounds that the therapist wasn’t there to testify about the contents of the letter. But she was there and they called her.

She really clinched the case. She talked about the kids’ diagnoses, including PTSD from witnessing domestic violence in their home and their developmental delays from neglect in their early years. We also heard that she asked the kids what they would want to see happen and they said they would like to stay with us but still see their parents. That was surprising because we hadn’t heard that they wanted to stay with us before. She then clarified that most kids, no matter the circumstances, will have unconditional love for their parents but in the long term, continuing visitation until permanency is reached will just confuse them and hinder them with being able to bond with us as their prospective adoptive parents, especially since they both have trouble retaining information. Also they don’t know what kind of damage the parents could do by saying things to the kids during these visits.

So, the judge ordered that since the parents should be able to make use of the services provided to them and lack the will to see things through, that their rights should be terminated. He also didn’t allow for post termination visitation as it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the kids.

I’m so relieved! I’m so glad I was able to advocate for the kids and get their best interest heard in court. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve signed with relief since we left court.

Now we just have to wait out the appeal period. The parents have 30 days to file and the Supreme Court of WV has 60 days to answer. The court hearing for permanency will be in February. I think that is to move their case to adoption rather than foster.

We are under no illusions that this will be easy, but we aren’t in limbo anymore.

It still feels very unreal. Today, I texted the lady who has been supervising the kids’ visits to ask if she’s heard from the case worker or not, and she said that the case worker did call and say services are no longer needed and the agency the visitation supervisor works for has closed out the case in their systems. It still feels like they should be getting picked up for visits tomorrow but that’s not happening anymore.

We are working with the kids’ therapist on how to best help them understand that they won’t be getting visits now. We aren’t going to tell them everything just in case the appeal does go somewhere, but we can’t just leave them hanging.
Click to expand...
Wow! What a roller coaster. Im SO happy that your side is being heard, as well as the childrens'.
hope all goes well with your health 🤗
 

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