First, let me clarify that Lovebug is still hanging at our place and tearing the house apart! Sorry about the lack of updates! I got a new job, I have this thing called a one year old...life has been a little busy!
Let me catch you up on all the happenings in our foster world. First, nothing has changed...and everything has changed. Lovebug is still in our home, and has been. There was a brief (and I mean, one week) period where visits moved from supervised to semisupervised. In foster world terms, that indicates a change in the status of the case, towards reunification.
The change didn't last long, and things were moved back before the end of October. So, while Lovebug's biological parents still have time to work towards reunification, in December we attended a court hearing where a trial date was set for termination of parental rights (tpr).
So, at the end of February, we will attend a day long trial to cover the history of the case and evidence will be presented for the judge to determine if every reasonable effort was made to reunify the family. The judge most likely will not decide that day whether to terminate or not. Typically it takes 30-60 days to get a ruling. Once that ruling comes, if it is to terminate, there will be one more visit for goodbyes to be said.
After that happens, the kids' lawyer (their guardian ad litem) will give permission for things while paperwork is processed to put them into the adoption phase. Dan and I, and the foster parent who has the boys, will go into the running to adopt the children.
But all of that is still many months away.
For now, we are enjoying a little 15-month old beauty with no fear and a level of smarts I'm astounded by everyday. She knows some colors, lots of words and can climb with the best of them!
