Am I wrong to feel this angry with CPS? Any other Kinship Caregivers here??

Question

I was given relative plcmnt of a child through child protective services. The mother does not support the child in any way & won't even keep the visitation schedule. During mediation she was told that because she did not complete her CPS serv and req that reunification wasn't an option; when told they wanted my family to have legal guardianship, she balked and said that was not what she wanted and wanted her own child back (mind you she has not cooperated at all with anything CPS has asked of her). CPS extended her case for an add'l 6 months and finally CPS got tired of her "bare minimums & excuses" and moved toward termination of her rights. A few weeks before court she called and said "I know I can't take care of my baby but I want my rights" and CPS has backed off of termination. Whave not rcvd any aid at all from CPS/state or the mother & the mother hasn't seen the baby in over 3 months. Why does the birth mother still have a say? What happened to the best interest of the child?

I am not a foster parent. I am a relative with my own children who was given the child so that the child would not be placed in the system, I was the next to the last person they homestudied and the only one they deemed s acceptable. I held every hope that the mother would get it together because at first it had been a struggle financially for me to raise a small child I hadn't anticipated; it's been over a year in and out of court every other month- it's just gotten to be ridiculous how much they let her get away with.

Answer 1

I urge you to keep the child for right now, no matter what, and if anything, ask your worker for a little assistence to care for the child. I am very surprised they haven't offered this already. I just hate to see cps snatch away another kid and place them in the system if there is a loving family memeber willing to care for the child.

You should be able to sue for child support yourself if the social worker is not going to do anything to help you. I am speaking from experience with cps and I really don't have anything good to say about them, other than in this situation, just do your part to help out the child, and your goods deeds will not go unnoticed. You have a heart of gold for putting up with it this long, and just keep the child's mother in your prayers and hope she sees the child for the blessing he/she is, and get herself toghtether so she can raise her own child!

In my state of N.C, cps is not as lenient as they have been in your sitaution. The child would have been placed in foster care and adopted out the first few times the mother or parent showed any sign of noncooperation, these people thrive off of opposition and the child's mother seems like she is doing just that.
If the child still winds up in foster care, or placed up for adoption, becasue of the mother, at least for the time being, you did your part in trying to prevent it. And when it all boils down, you will be the one sleeping at night, not the mother if that happens to the child. Good Luck!

Answer 2

A mother can get confused and mixed up but that does not mean she deep down inside wants to abandon her God-given child. I understand what you mean, but going into child/foster care you should always make amends for the mother to come to her senses. That is the worst agony in the world being ripped away from a natural child. Perhaps find children w/o their parents alive or some do not want their kid(s). NO ONE ON EARTH SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO STORM TROOP IN AND SNATCH CHILDREN FROM THEIR NATURAL PARENTS IT CAUSES THE MOST SEVERE TRAUMA TO CHILD AND PARENTS (unless child abuse then taken on conditions of reform). Good luck you serve a great cause in times of need.

Answer 3

I do not believe they can have her rights terminated unless another family was waiting to adopt. I am a kinship grandparent. Doesn't your state offer some money help? Here in Wisconsin we get $215 a month per child as long as the child/children were placed by a court.

Answer 4

They do everything they can to keep the family united and give the family every chance possible to regain custody of their child(ren). I would be angry, too, but they are giving the mother every chance to get counseling and that's not something that can be accomplished overnight.