Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Why.

Please click on image to enlarge.

Carol was able to explain why, in the state Carol and I live in, the laws have made Lizzy's case such a confusing mess.

7 comments:

Carol said...

I would be very surprised if they give out of the wood work relative much time at this late date.

Andrea said...

Wow, that's just awful. So a bio dad has no rights. I can't see how that's fair at all. It makes no sense. In my state ANYONE can petition for custody. Me, you, the person down the street. Of any child, not just one in the system. You wouldn't win of course, but at least you'd have a shot. So bio dad would at least have a chance to convince the court instead of being blown off. We have woodwork people right now, where have they been for 12 weeks, it was all over the news. SW told me not to worry. It's so weird how differently state law vary.

Julie said...

Mama Foster you should write your congressman -- that law is CRAZY! It makes no sense to me. And I am guessing since Legal Dad is a jerk that he won't be so nice as to relinquish his rights and allow bio dad a chance. Her case makes me want to cry. How can such a young girl's life be so upside down?

Diane said...

Carol's comments explain your state's law well. Ask Lizzy's lawyer what the law is regarding kinship placement. In my state, anyone with a "significant relationship" with the child, whether or not related by blood, can be considered a kinship placement. Bio dad meets this criteria. The fact that he is bio dad is irrelevant based on your laws, but if there is an opening through kinship placement based on his bond with her, not his biology, that may be a way to have him considered.

I like your law that foster parents are second only to the bio (except in this case) parents after 12 months. You must be sure you don't want to adopt her, so that they must look for another placement for her. After 12 months, do relatives/kinship placements have no priority, or do they only come after stable foster parents? If the first, he may be out of luck, because a licensed adoptive parent would probably be preferred; however, if kinship still has priority over strangers, just not over foster parents, he would probably have a chance if they proceed to TPR.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the explanation...makes my head and my heart hurt for Lizzie though (and you guys)
Praying.

Ruth said...

wow... sad thing is, in my state no one really gets married anymore so I never even heard of that!

Carol said...

One more comment about the bio dad no rights law that appears to make no sense in 2011. I do not know what year this law was written but it was a different age and a different life style time, a time where there was still some sanctity to the marriage union. From what I have gleaned without doing a research project on it is that what was behind the law was an attempt to hold families together in an age that together was the norm. Make sense to us today? Not at all. Did it make sense when it was written? Don't know. I wasn't around.