Lizzy's mom called me tonight. She is out of the mental health facility and on 3 NEW medications...she was very excited about this. So excited that she was talking a mile a minute and acting like the new meds have her feeling VERY good...a little high on life right now if you know what I mean.She is back to the "I'll do whatever I need to do for my baby" speech right now. She thinks that she may have to go to jail for a while for one of her warrants "but she doesn't care, she will do it for her baby".
At least while she was having her mental health weekend Lizzy got a day at the beach too.
This weekend is a GREAT example of why kids need long term foster care, while mom lost it (after a year of not parenting her child) Lizzy was none the wiser. She didn't have to be exposed to any of it and her life stayed normal and very two year old appropriate. It is a shame that the courts don't look at this and say there is enough history here to make a decision based on what most likely WILL happen AGAIN if the child is returned.
Today I read a horrible story that is the most extreme example of what happens because the courts refuse to do this.
You can read about it here.
3 comments:
Oh my. THAT is my biggest, biggest fear...I'm glad Lizzy was none the wiser and able to enjoy being a kid for the weekend.
The judges and referees have seemingly gone to sleep on the bench lately. What looks like such clear cut convincing evidence that parental rights should be terminated they seemingly are turning a blind eye to. I don't know if you know about the lawsuit against the state (ours and some others) on behalf of parents, but the state has hired 700 new workers in the DHS dept as a result of that suit and have implemented some other changes. We have been told by an inside DHS source that the judges are being gun shy for fear of getting sued. So lets not do our job right? Lets not care for the kids.
We have a sibling pair that have been with us for 17 months--the baby was 2 days old when she came. Mom is a drug addict and both kids were born positive for cocaine and may have FAS as well plus she is a prostitute. "Dad" admittedly is not a bio dad and only signed the birth certificate for the oldest child (he was 14 mo old when he came) because bio dad was to drunk to sign. A DNA test was done on him and the baby and he is NOT bio dad for her either and has not signed her birth certificate. Plus he is an illegal alien and cannot get a U.S. green card, can't get a driver's license, and can't work legally. He is getting paid under the table.
Here 17 mo later it doesn't look like the case is any closer to permanency than the day that we started. They talk about giving them to illegal dad (and if dad gets deported kids would be deported with him). They say they are not going to terminate on mom, but would give custody to dad.
In state policy it does say that it is the goal of the department to have a permanency plan in place by 1 yr in care.
OMGosh, Carol. MUCH of your case sounds just like ours...minus the drug use...but they are talking not terminating on mom right now and reunifying to dad...who could be your "dad's" twin it sounds like....Our kiddos have been with us for 10 months and in care for 13...
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