COURT

First off downtown Houston is no joke. We parked 3 blocks down the court house and walked there so nervous about what all was about to happen. We didn't know who was going to be there or who we would see or talk to. Or if this infamous judge of hard ruling would be that strict. We got in, found the court room and went inside to sit down. It was about 30 mintues before roll call. I had never been to court before but apparantly they have all the trials for the day meet at 9 am to do roll call and then the judge comes in and brings up each party to the front to hold them at different times thru out the day. Very confusing.
So anyways we don't recognize anyone, and besides that there are a bunch of people there for different cases. So finally in walks Penny, our CASA workers supervisor. In my eyes, this woman rocks and rocks it hard. She is super CASA and knows her stuff. She says hello to us and Jeff's parents since they came too and then takes me and Jeff outside to the hall to talk about something. Once we were out there she says, "The father's attorney is here and he called her last night to let her know he had a change of heart and is willing to sign the papers but wants to know if your willing to send him pics of Brittany once a year? You are not obligated to actually do it or follow thru with it but it does help to say yes so he will sign the papers. You don't want to agree to too much." Of course we are like, "Yes of course he should be able to at least have some pics" so she says "Okay I will let the attorney know and I will get you guys if we need anthing else. Don't stress it's just court. Just sit back until the judge calls us up and answer anything he asks. Also Camille is here (previous FM who ditched her family)."
So then we went back into the court room. We were thinking, "Okay why is Camille here?" because we know that previous foster dad has been talking with CPS to try and get Brittany back into his home so maybe she is there to spy on things for him? Are they even back together or whats going on? Maybe she just wanted to see things thru. Next thing I know she is sitting in the back of the court room. She waves hi and asks "Are you the foster parents?" I say "yes" and then that is it. We continue to sit there. Some time goes by and Camille comes and sits in the row behind us. She starts instantly telling us who is who. What person is CPS's attorney and who is dad's attorney and moms attorney. We don't recognize anyone else still. Anna (CPS) is still not there. Later we realize she has her supervisor Nicole step in for her. And Brittany's attorney, who we knew would not be there has some guy named Gaurza or something step in for her.
The next thing I know the dad's attorney comes up to us and shakes our hands and introduces herself. She sits in the row in front of us and explains that dad is willing to sign the TPR papers if we will agree to send him pics. She says, "You don't really HAVE to do this but it helps soften the blow." Me and Jeff look at each other and then her and say "Yes of course we are willing and have said we have been wanting to do this." In the corner of my eye I can see Adell violently shaking her head yes like the woman is asking her these questions.
I then ask her "Is it possible to ask the dad to return the favor and send us pics as well?" The attorney says, "Oh yea that would be great and I bet he would love that!" She then asks " How is she doing anyways? Do you have any pics we can give him now so he can see how much she has grown?"
The next thing I know Adell is busting out the album and pics a picture while I shuffling thru another one. Adell says "Oh I know the perfect one Heather what about the one where she is playing on the floor" The attorney turns to her and says " Well it's THEIR decision" So not only was I getting irritated by Adell overbearing G-ma attitude but so was the attorney. I hand the attorney one of her playing in the ocean and we had just taken it a this weekend so it was the most recent one of her. She takes the pic and says okay I am going to go talk to him now.
Once she left I turned to Adell and said "Grandma if you don't back up I am about to smack you!" She then says "Well I am just talking cause I am so nervous" I say "I realize that but you need to stop talking for us!" She then sits back in her chair and gets PISSED.

Then Camille pipes her head back to my shoulder and continues talking to me and Jeff about how she can't believe CPS isn't here and where is her lawyer and OMG the system is so stupid and how Mickey is stupid and he is at a class and could have been here if he wanted. So at that time I realize they are so not together.

So then out of nowhere the dad's attorney comes back into the court room and asks us if we would like to come talk to the father because he wants to talk to us. We of course get up and follow her into a room where the mom and the dad are there with their attorneys. They say this is dad and mom and this is Jeff and Heather the foster parents, the dad then says
"What happened to the other foster parents?
We didn' know that she had moved. When did she move?"
and I said "July 15th she came to our home."
The mom says "Why?" and I look at the attroney
like "Do you really want me to tell her why?"
and the attorney looks at me like "Shut up don't say anything"
but tells the parents "we are not too sure things kind of just happen.
They wanted to find a home to adopt Brittany so they found these nice people."
and the mom, who is not an idiot says "I thought the other family wanted to adopt her?"
and the dad says "Well it doesn't matter because I can already tell I like them alot better then the other family. We did not want to sign with the other family and Melissa doesn't want to sign at all but I keep telling her it's best for Brittany and we love her so much but you know we gotta think about her"
So then the attorney explains that we want to send pics if they will send pics and you can totally see their faces light up. They say they will and the attorney explains not to change addresses without telling DDC because that's how these arrangements get lost and they will blame us when it's their fault for not telling anyone they are moving. So then somehow they all agree to go ahead and sign the papers and the attorney goes over all the legalities of what they are about to sign which is really just basic,
" Your signing away your rights as parents. It is CPS intent to have Jeffrey and Heather adopt Brittany if this works out they will send you pics once a year and you will send them pics. If you have anymore children in the future the hospital will notify CPS if there is anything wrong with the child or you at the time of birth" just basic stuff like that we have heard a million times.
Then they sign the papers. In the meantime about 5 more people walk into the little cramped room already and say how great it is they are signing the papers. The mom is crying and the dad is standing there looking sad. The attorney's are laughing amongst themselves and saying how great it is for us. But all we can do is feel so sorry for the bios. We are so happy and blessed and believe they wouldn't have signed without seeing us but it's still a sad moment they did not get to experience well because of their stupid ass attorneys and random people walking in. It was so weird. Then everyone left so we could talk alone to them.

The dad explained how they are not bad parents. He said they tried to work their plan but CPS kept losing their receipts for classes and the more they tried to do the more they were left behind that it got so crazy they just gave up. He said where they live it's hard and is not a good place for a kid and he has a hard time keeping mom safe. He told us to fight for Brittany and wanted to make sure we loved her and wanted to adopt her. He made us promise to send pics and take care of his baby.
Then the mom finally spoke and asked how often I would send the pics. I told her as much as possible and I have a crazy mother in law who takes pics everyday so I would send her some all the time so don't worry. She laughed and you can really tell she felt comfterable with us. I told her we would record her on our camera and make a video and burn it on a dvd and send those to her too. She smiled so big and they both loved it and said how awesome that would be. It was such a great moment. Then the attorney walked back in and said we need to get to court because we are up soon. We said our good byes rather quickly and left. The bio's went home and we went back into court. We got a copies of the papers they signed and we signed.
I feel so good about meeting the parents. It feels awesome to have their approval and to hear them say we like you guys better then previous FP's. They looked thru her lifebook and were so happy with all the things we do with her. They said she looks so good and happy with us and they are so glad we have her and appreciate us taking care of their baby. I have full intentions on writing them letters to send with the pics. Hopefully something great will come of this. It truely is God thing!

Then once we went back into court is was not too soon after the judge ordered our party up to the front.
The attorney that was filling in for Brittany's was in the hall and holding it up and the judge was getting huffy. Earlier when I went in there to get some more pics for bio's he was yelling at CPS on another case about "dropping the ball." he said "I don't know how many times you dropped the ball on this case but you single handedly lost this child from the parents." and then he told some attorneys "Two first year grads could do a better job then what your doing!" so judge Phillips does NOT play.
When all the parties were there CPS attorney started off by presenting the TPR papers and the other attorneys would chime in saying they had nothing further and then the moms attorney showed moms papers and dads attorney showed dads papers and then judge asked cps where the child was and the cps attorney said if current foster home of the bucks and pointed to us and judge nodded to us and he asked how long she was in our home and they all began to shuffle thru their papers!
NO ONE KNEW.
Not even CASA.
So I chimed in "July 15th"
It was kind of scary but the judge immediantly looked at me and realized I was the only one with any answers and smiled. He then asked the attorney's if she was eligable for subsidy and they all didnt know because they didn't know the laws and the judge got pissed and aksed the CPS attorney if she would explain the rules of subsidy to us and she said
"Judge it is not my specialty I would prefer if CPS went over this with them "
and he said "Well do you know anything at all?"
and she said "I believe if it is a minority child at the age of two they are eligable but I am not sure"
and he said "No you do not know but you NEED to know and you need to MAKE IT YOUR SPECIALTY"
Then he said "How old is the child?" they all said "2"
and the CASA says "1" and I said "16 MONTHS"
and the judge says "When is her birthday?"
and they all went shuffling back thru papers and I said "April 15th"
and the judge smiled at us and said to bring in someone from his team to tell him the rules of subsidy and the lady came in and said
"As long as they wait until the child is 2 to sign the intent to adopt she is eligable for subsidy and college tuition"
the judge then stops everything and turns to us and asks Jeff "Do you understand this sir?"
and Jeff says "No"
and the judge says "DO NOT let CPS pressure you into signing anything until she is 2 years old. You wait and hold off so she can get what is hers"
and then he smiles and CASA steps up and says
"Judge can we get a court order to hold the child until she is adopted into the foster parents home"
and the judge says "Yes "
and CPS shakes her head and makes a snotty face and says "So that means CPS cannot move the child without a court order?"
and the judge says "That is my ruling and that is what I am saying"
then it was over!
SOOOOOOO AWESOME!
SO basically we get to adopt her unless we screw up! And CPS has to go to court to get an order to remove her so they cannot pressure us into signing anything until April by saying "You have to sign these papers if you want to adopt her now or we are moving her!"
CASA freaking ROCKS!
Then as we are leaving a lady from the freaking STATE OF TEXAS calls and is coming out Wednesday to do a random survey and inspection of our home to make sure CPS and DDC are doing their jobs correctly! OUR FREAKING LUCK! LOL