Lil J's mom is MIA

MyColonyNJ

Lil J's last visit with his mom was on Oct 27th. 

The visits have been weekly, then every other week, then weekly, then every other week.  They kept changing because she was very inconsistent with the visits.

His mom is suposed to call 24 hours before the visit to comfirm the visit.  Obviously, this way I am not sitting around all day waiting.

Not only has she not called to confirm visits, but she is not returning all calls to her from his caseworker, and her phone goes right to voicemail.  This is no contact at all since Oct 27!  That is almost 7 weeks!

His case is adoption, and we are "scheduled" for a termination trial in April.  Anyone know how this may affect our case.

will they proceed with termination without knowing where she is? 

So, right now, my caseworker has contacted her attorney to see if he has heard from her.  And, if that answer is NO, then she will start using her reseources to try to find her.

 

MayDayGirl

oh no! I have no advice, but I am sorry, I hope nothing bad happened to her.

MyColonyNJ

MayDayGirl:

oh no! I have no advice, but I am sorry, I hope nothing bad happened to her.

I am actually very concerned about her.  Considering her history - I am sure something "bad" has happened.  And, sad to say, she is probably in only one of two places.

715inNC

wow, how's lil' J doing? does he notice/ask about her?

 

I would assume TPR would be even more likely now if they were already considering it.

I know you wouldn't wish the worst on her so i imagine this isn't easy for you guys either. Sorry. 

Honeydew1894

I am so sorry to hear this, esp for Lil J. I hope it does move your adoption forward more quickly!

lilmufish

That really stinks that she went MIA right around the holidays. Does that have to do with not wanting to provide presents, etc? Or maybe that it's too hard to go through the holidays knowing she can't be with him?

I imagine your state has some sort of abandonment law, x amount of months, or time frame since last visit.  I'd check with the caseworker on that.

I'm sorry to hear that things are a little "out there' right now, i pray you guys have answers soon.
 

mysticl

Every state is going to have it's own guidelines but if she dropped out of contact it will probably help the case for termination.  Unless she has a really good reason like she was in an accident and in a coma for 3 months type of thing.  They can terminate rights without the parent present but they have to make an effort to find them first, a PP mentioned publishing in the paper and I think that is fairly standard as well as checking known phone numbers, addresses that kind of thing.  I have seen parental rights terminated without the parent present and it can go faster because once they have been unable to locate the parent the hearing is pretty straightforward and there probably won't be an appeal.

Cissi64

mysticl:

Every state is going to have it's own guidelines but if she dropped out of contact it will probably help the case for termination.  Unless she has a really good reason like she was in an accident and in a coma for 3 months type of thing.  They can terminate rights without the parent present but they have to make an effort to find them first, a PP mentioned publishing in the paper and I think that is fairly standard as well as checking known phone numbers, addresses that kind of thing.  I have seen parental rights terminated without the parent present and it can go faster because once they have been unable to locate the parent the hearing is pretty straightforward and there probably won't be an appeal.

This.  In KY the period is( or was in 1999) 90 days without some form of contact ( visit, phone call, letter)  One of our BMs went to California.  SW knew where she was (address, phone #) but couldn't reach her.  TPR was going to be very straight forward from that point and they were already preparing after two months of no contact.  She showed  up in Ky and called the SW about 3 days short of the 90.  They chose to TPR anyway since she hadn't really "worked her plan" and hadn't contacted them for so long. 

This is "good news" for you. I do hope for Lil J's sake  ( and your whole family) that things work out for the best.

PrincessShay80

Baby C's mom went MIA back in February of this year- we only had 2 visits before she dropped off the planet. She has never surfaced, its been almost 11 months. Our TPR hearing is scheduled for this Thursday. Back in June the case plan was changed to termination and adoption by us.

We just had our review hearing yesterday and the case worker had to show that they had done a dilligent search for her, which was done, and that all paperwork was sent certified to the last known address- judge said I see no reason why TPR will not be granted on Thursday, if bio mom does not show up there is no appeal time for her, so our adoption process will start as soon as the judge signs the TPR order.

So in our case being MIA was a good thing- all they had to do with show a diligent search, and serve the last known address. After 6 months of being MIA in our county it's considered abdoment and is grounds for TPR, they are really cracking down in our county on stuff like this.

Good luck!