I am writing on behalf of my parents who are foster parent to 2 young girls. They are not really on board with the message board system so I am posting their story and questions.
My parents have been caring for these 2 bio siblings for much of the children's lives. They are now almost 6 and 2 and 1/2. The bio parents entrusted their children to my parents' care and as the bio parent's situation deteriorated my parents got certified as foster parents. The children were formally placed with my parents in December 2011. My parents are not biologically related to the bio parents - they just live in the same small town.
Both bio parents have weekly supervised 2 hour visits with the children. The bio mother does not seem especially interested in getting her children back. She does not consistently come. The bio father on the other hand has pressure/support from his mother and has been making some moves toward getting his children back. He consistently goes to the supervised visits but does not have unsupervised visits. So that the story is complete, a 3rd child, 6 month old baby is placed with the bio grandmother (mother of the bio father) - she is unable to care for the other 2 although she did attempt to have longer visits at some point this winter. She did one weekend with all 3 girls and then decided she was not able to do that.
My parents, the foster parents, have known these children their entire lives. The bio father would not be competent to care for his children on his own. He physically abused the bio mother and shows little interest in the actual process of parenting. The older of the children is afraid of him and is uncomfortable in his presence. The younger of the children gets little or no attention from him.
It seems to me that my parents have the best interests of the children in mind while the bio father is going through the process because of pressure from his mother. (of course you understand that I have some bias here) My parents would be happy to be a permanent home for the children.
The foster care worker suggested that my parents intervene in the foster care legal proceeding. I feel that they should not do this without a lawyer. I don't know exactly what it would mean but I understand that they would then have the opportunity to assert that they have a long term relationship and that their opinion might count for more than it does now when they are "just" the foster parents.
Additionally, there is a Citizen Review Board hearing coming up that my mother is apprehensive about. I think she is worried because she doesn't know exactly what decisions will be made.
Has anyone intervened in their foster children's cases? Were you successful? Has anyone done a Citizen Review Board hearing and how was it? Any suggestions and resources would be appreciated.
Feel free to get back to me if I didn't make sense. Thank you.
My parents have been caring for these 2 bio siblings for much of the children's lives. They are now almost 6 and 2 and 1/2. The bio parents entrusted their children to my parents' care and as the bio parent's situation deteriorated my parents got certified as foster parents. The children were formally placed with my parents in December 2011. My parents are not biologically related to the bio parents - they just live in the same small town.
Both bio parents have weekly supervised 2 hour visits with the children. The bio mother does not seem especially interested in getting her children back. She does not consistently come. The bio father on the other hand has pressure/support from his mother and has been making some moves toward getting his children back. He consistently goes to the supervised visits but does not have unsupervised visits. So that the story is complete, a 3rd child, 6 month old baby is placed with the bio grandmother (mother of the bio father) - she is unable to care for the other 2 although she did attempt to have longer visits at some point this winter. She did one weekend with all 3 girls and then decided she was not able to do that.
My parents, the foster parents, have known these children their entire lives. The bio father would not be competent to care for his children on his own. He physically abused the bio mother and shows little interest in the actual process of parenting. The older of the children is afraid of him and is uncomfortable in his presence. The younger of the children gets little or no attention from him.
It seems to me that my parents have the best interests of the children in mind while the bio father is going through the process because of pressure from his mother. (of course you understand that I have some bias here) My parents would be happy to be a permanent home for the children.
The foster care worker suggested that my parents intervene in the foster care legal proceeding. I feel that they should not do this without a lawyer. I don't know exactly what it would mean but I understand that they would then have the opportunity to assert that they have a long term relationship and that their opinion might count for more than it does now when they are "just" the foster parents.
Additionally, there is a Citizen Review Board hearing coming up that my mother is apprehensive about. I think she is worried because she doesn't know exactly what decisions will be made.
Has anyone intervened in their foster children's cases? Were you successful? Has anyone done a Citizen Review Board hearing and how was it? Any suggestions and resources would be appreciated.
Feel free to get back to me if I didn't make sense. Thank you.
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