I have been waiting to update our blog, hoping to have great news to share. As it is, we are still waiting for news. Aunt's home study was physically completed mid-Feb and somewhere it is being held up. Everyone says they are 'looking into it'. We still have no idea if she passed or failed the home study. Once we know that, all legal parties involved will schedule a hearing with the judge and state where they believe it would in Little Girl's best interest to be permanently.
Since our last post, we have taken the incredibly heart wrenching step of hiring an attorney. We are definitely treading in territory we never dreamed we would venture into. We were able to hire an attorney because little girl has been with us for longer than 12 months. (It will actually be 19 months this month.) The attorney is our way of having a voice as little girl's caregivers. The attorney will speak to her attachment and the trauma she will incur should she be forced to leave us. If needed, we'll do a formal attachment study with a attachment professional so that it can be submitted in court. She also can bring up issues, facts etc that no other legal party is able to bring up. Things that maybe CPS didn't know, or failed to bring to light, or things that little girl's attorney cannot mention before the judge.
So, the next step is the hearing. We have three hopes: 1) that the aunt gives up her push for little girl and realizes she is where she needs to be, 2) CPS changes their stance on wanting little girl to go to a relative, no matter the cost to her or 3) the judge rules that she should stay with us. If any of that occurs, the case will close and we can move on with adoption.
If anyone says they want her to go to the relatives, we would then move to a jury trial. Given the overwhelming number of these cases taking place in Travis County (hello broken world!), the trial would be late August or September.
A jury trial?! I can't even think about that step. We just take it day by day, meeting by meeting.
We know this is the right step for our family. We would live with deep regret if we did not utilize all the resources available to us to attempt to ensure a healthy, stable life for her. We are extremely grateful that we were able to save the majority of the funds that the state pays us for being foster parents, so that we can end up using the money against them in the end. Kidding. Kind of.
Family visits take place once a month for an hour and a half. I am now taking little girl to those visits, which helps her remain calm and come back more calm. She definitely still has heightened stranger anxiety, but as we get further removed from her being picked up by the transporter and the horrible chaos that created inside her, we think she will continue to improve on her trust and comfort around people she doesn't know.
And, now more than ever, we call her Sister. We've had some sweet conversation with friends (kids) who ask why we call her that. We tell her she needs a family and we are her family for now and that means she is loved as deeply as the boys. They are called brothers, and she is their sister.
The boys do ask weekly if we get to keep her. Now they say, "But she can't leave us now, she's been with us so long". We are a family. We pray that those involved see that too.
We are loving creating happy memories with Sister. She absolutely LOVES camping. She is a fantastic hiker on Phil's carrier. She is so much fun, so adventurous and easily entertained. She is such a gift to our family.
Thanks for praying for us and for her.
