Dates for Court Appearances

I have a few updates about the court cases for the girls, and how things are panning out, so I thought I'd share!

We have some dates on the calendar -
Status Hearing: Wednesday, March 18th
Permanency Hearing: First week of June (TBD)
Trial: Thursday, July 9th

The hearings won't be any decision-making dates, but the Trial is when the final decision on the case should be made.

Of course, we know from past experience not to hold our breath when court dates are announced. But, it seems like the case is getting fairly "cut and dry" at this point, so hopefully there won't be any delays in making a final decision.

We had a meeting with the girls' lawyer yesterday, and with their caseworker today. Mom and the two dads are not sufficiently cooperating with their service plan and what is expected of them. Both lawyer and caseworker are agreeing that we're moving towards termination of the birthparents' rights. The first step is to have the judge agree to a change in plan, which may happen at the March court hearing, or may happen at the June court hearing. Either way, that's just the change in the goal of the case, not the final decision. We've had it explained, of course, that rushing anything isn't the plan, and we want to avoid anything that can end up as grounds for an appeal later.

One good note from the caseworker today is that she let me know the courts are now working on expedited adoption finalization for children who have been in care for 6 or more months, once termination of birthparents' rights happens. In one case the other day, a judge ordered the adoption consummation to happen within 40 days after the termination trial. That's good news that we could be on a fast track for adoption, assuming the termination does definitely go through. We would LOVE that, since Miss A and Little Guy both had a year-long adoption process following termination!

Please continue to pray for peace and strength for all involved. I know that our joy is someone else's pain, and that hurts. Having the girls stay with us means they have to say good-bye to their birth family. It's challenging and complex on all sides, and God has really opened my eyes to having compassion for "the other side", even in the midst of annoying waiting and trials we're experiencing. Please keep this family in your thoughts as they struggle, as we all do.

Our world is broken and messy, and we all just need to be broken together!