Can anyone tell me about reading redacted records?

davidandheather

We are fostering to adopt and did placement in November. The redacted records just came in and we are told to go to CPS office to read them, before the finalization hearing can take place. Should we plan the whole day for this? Ask more questions? Will we get a disc or be able to take notes? We are in Texas.  Just got the email about this and sw is in meetings so has not yet answered my questions. Advice would be appreciated!

CaptainSerious

I would ask how much is available so you can estimate how much time you may need.  When we received files on children, we sometimes received 60 pages for kids who had been in care for 6 years and over 300 for children who had been in care for only 3 years, so we quickly learned that the length of time in care ins't an indication of what may be in the files.

fernane

I was an adoption worker for CPS in TX and it really depends on a number of factors as to how long the case file will be. Things such as: Is he/she an only child or does birth mom have other children/previous CPS history? How long the child has been in care How long the case has taken.. The redacted file you will read is a binder containing all info. That CPS has about everyone in the family..so if it's a large family with multiple children or previous CPS history, it will be a lot longer. I worked cases at hat were 4 and 5 large binders and some that were just half a binder. I would allot a couple of hours for being at the office. Before finalization of the adoption, you will receive a disk of the case file. They may still do a hard copy as well. When I left in 2011 they were trying to transition to disk copies but still doing hard copies as well.

fernane

Also, that's kind of crazy that y'all did placement so long ago and haven't finalized yet! I guess it varies by county, but I used to do placement right before finalization, sometimes a day before and in some cases day of! I worked in the San Antonio area. A lot of times the foster parents appreciated the perks of foster placement as long as possible before transitioning to adoptive placement. Have they given you an indication of when finalization will be?

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