DD has two younger brothers (turning one next month) in foster care. Tomorrow is the termination trial and I'm going to go to meet, and support, their foster parents. I haven't seen DD's birth father since his rights were terminated about two years ago or seen her birth mother about four months before her rights were terminated about three years ago. I know for sure that her birth father will be there but I'm not sure about her birth mother.
All kinds of feelings are churning inside of me. It's all so sad. Mom clearly can't parent. She needs more mental health care than the system is set up to provide for her. I thought Dad was a bit better off but who knows. The family that wanted to take my DD at termination time, wasn't cleared to take the babies for some reason. That was surprising to me but I don't know the details. I suspect I'll learn a lot in court tomorrow.
I'm happy to be meeting her brother's foster (and designated adoptive) family. I'm so sad that their birth parents are in a bad place, I'm excited about sharing pictures of "our" daughter (placed with me at 9 months and is now 4 1/2.) I'm happy to be visiting the tiny town where my daughter was born. And I know that tomorrow will be a really draining day for everyone involved. The open adoption that I hoped to have with DD's birth father hasn't happened so far, but I still have hope for it to happen one day. But if not, he'll have new pictures to keep.
But, in happier news, DS's older bio sister (and her adoptive parents) are flying down next week for their annual visit. They moved out of state after her adoption but we're all dedicated to keeping the kids in touch with each other. We hope to drive "up north" in the spring or summer.
