The Verdict

elissaann26 · November 2012

First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and advice as we prepared to go into court today. I was really nervous about today, but your support and especially your advice for talking to the parents was awesome! I can't thank you enough!

So on to the verdict. The judge decided that our foster sons will be returning home, as we expected. But after all of the parties were heard, the court decided to put in an additional layer of support which REALLY addressed all of our outstanding concerns. The amount of support that is being provided to every single member of this family is amazing. Honestly, I never knew this kind of support was possible. So we are VERY happy with this outcome!

And the parents really liked the pictures of the boys that we gave them. I didn't actually say the "We respect the progress you've made" comment that I had planned since the conversation mainly stuck to the boys and I was super nervous about it turning south as it always had in the past. But after court, both parents came over to talk to us. This is a HUGE step and we were so thankful for our conversation with them!

There are a few more details in my blog if you are interested.

IRR · November 2012

Glad the outcome was what is best for the boys. Were they super happy to be going back to their parents? I am sure you and DH are a bit sad, but the way I look at it, your home is now available for other children that will certainly benefit from knowing you, so looking forward to hearing about your next placement.

elissaann26 · November 2012

IRR:
Glad the outcome was what is best for the boys. Were they super happy to be going back to their parents? I am sure you and DH are a bit sad, but the way I look at it, your home is now available for other children that will certainly benefit from knowing you, so looking forward to hearing about your next placement.

The boys don't know about any of this yet. They won't know of anything for a while still. Since they are little and don't have a good concept of time, they aren't going to be told until a few days before the actual move. Otherwise, it would be too hard for them to process and then wait what seems like forever for it to actually happen.

The social workers made a comment last week that they already had some children in mind for us! And DH promptly said "We are closed!" Ha! We definitely are going to take some time for us to end this chapter- grieve the boys leaving and just enjoy our non-parent freedom. Then we'll go back to the board about figuring what is right for us right now- foster care, trying to get pregnant, adoption, getting another dog, or just enjoying status quo.