Permanency Hearing

We attended a permanency hearing today for the boys' case. It was interesting in that everyone was there - The judge of course, our lawyer, Patrick and I, the CASA worker and the CASA supervisor assigned to the case, the boy's CPS caseworker, the ADA trying the case for the county, the mom's lawyer, both dads' lawyers and the lawyer for the boys. Yup - that was all just for our case! :) We were first in this particular section of the day so that was nice. There were about a million other people in the courtroom when we went in. Our lawyer told us that they were hearing an average of 20 cases/courtroom/session with about 3 sessions a day! That's incredible to me....

Anyways, we were there a total of 30 minutes with about 25 of those minutes being because we were talking to our lawyer after the hearing about what to expect at Monday's hearing. The other 5 minutes was in front of the judge for this permanency hearing. It was pretty simple..."How are the boys doing?" "They're good your honor." "Great, see you Monday." That was about it. There were a few more words exchanged between the lawyers and the judge, but most of it we weren't involved with.

On our way out of the courtroom, we were told that there is a possibility that the boys' mother and the youngest one's father may be relinquishing their parental rights. If that is the case, the only rights we have to terminate on Monday will be the oldest one's father's rights. If the others relinquish, we still have to make that termination legal, but that is a much simpler process.

Our lawyer prepped me a bit for my testimony on Monday. It seems that pretty much every one of the lawyers will have an opportunity to ask me questions. I am not sure what weight my testimony will have on Monday. However, I am pretty nervous. If for no other reason than I have this really bad problem with rambling when I am nervous (I am sure you would never believe that reading my blog! :) ). Either way, I am sure that if I say something stupid, it will have an impact on the judge's decision. The other thing that is making me nervous is that the parents will all be there (or are supposed to be). I sure don't want to do anything that will offend because I don't want them to appeal the termination if it happens, but I am also not going to lie to protect their feelings. I just know this is going to be hard for us, but I know it will also be hard for them on some level.

So, at this point, it is still really all up in the air. But, Monday is going to be the "big" day! Please pray for a positive response from the judge and that God's will for these boys is done. Please also pray for my clarity and use of appropriate words and ability to concisely get my point across without jeopardizing our case. :) Thank you all for your support! The comments and messages are so wonderful to receive.

On another personal note - my sister-in-law, Katie, had her baby yesterday! Knox Landry Blanchard was born at 12:17 pm on 8/5/29. He is 7 lbs, 10oz. He is just about the cutest baby in the whole world! I am so way excited to be Aunt Kellie! Pictures to come when I can get them uploaded.