So confused over CPS placement of children

[hopeful4bfp]

So my daughters father got a call one night that his 6 year old son was left on a public bus by his mother and he was found wondering the city. The mom was eventually found in midst of a psychotic break and was taken to a psych hospital. It was found that she had drug induced psychosis from all the years she has used PCP. Both her children were taken from the home and placed with us.

Mom did ok for about 6 weeks, then her school check came in and she gave us some money then was found again in a psychotic state and taken to the hospital again then to jail for assulting someone while again on pcp. She was in jail for 2 months then got out. She was drug tested by cps for the first time a few weeks later and of course she failed, tested positive for PCP.

She has to of course complete all the classes and training to get her kids back but we are not willing to let them go back. If there is no greater incentive to get and stay clean than the possiblity of loosing your children then I dont know what is, and if you cant stay sober while fighting for your kids, your not going to stay sober once you get them.

So we have told the CPS caseworker we are planning to file for custody and she is in total aggreement as she doesnt believe that mom will be getting the kids back. My question is what are our rights? they are not technicallly foster children and I am unsure if I have custody or guardianship or what?

We can file for custody of the little boy cause that FOB biological son but the little girl has no blood ties to either us adults. We have to wait another month before we have rights to her. Should we just wait for the courts to terminate her rights then get custody or should we file before that? Are we going to have to get lawyers? We dont have much money but I cant have them go back to that.

I worry because she has threatened us before with violence and I am afraid she is going to go after us when she finds out that she isnt getting her kids back. I am just so confused on what to do and stressed out!!

Can anyone offer some advice or even just a similar circumstance so I dont feel so alone?

 

[TTC First]

I am not in the US and not familiar with the US system however I can give my point of view from a Canadian foster parent.

Who was it that "placed the children with you"? Typically placements are done through CAS and that is because they have been granted guardianship. In Canada you can not adopt a child until the parental rights have been terminated. For us to terminate parental rights, CAS goes to court and the court approves or denies it. The problem is that it can take a very long time but I hear that it is much faster in the USA.

I would recommend getting in touch with CAS to see what the process is to terminate parental rights.

The one thing that I have to warn you about is just as you know, Mom knowing where you live can be a big concern. You will really need to examine if adopting the children is worth the potential risk you may be in. Only you and your family can answer that.