Update on prayer request

Just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers last week. It is very reassuring to know that we are being surrounded in prayer.

Many of you have asked how things are going and I wanted to touch base with what we know so far. The meeting with the case workers and the kids mom did not go well. She found out that the observations were not favorable for reunifying the kids with her. She still doesn't understand why the kids are in substitute (foster) care and she was surprised that the kids aren't getting returned to her anytime soon.

I met with the other caseworkers last night and they let me know that they are going to pursue filling for terminating parental rights on one of the boys and the other will most likely happen soon also. Most times in a case like this they would try to do both boys together however, with the length of time that they've been out of the home the case workers are thinking that perhaps this would be more advantageous to at least get one permanency plan going. This all sounds terrific, but keep in mind that even though it sounds quick it is a very long process and by no means a "slam dunk". It falls on the caseworker to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the child is not safe returning to his mother.

What this means for us is that we make ourselves available for visitations up until a judge makes the final decision. In our case it is difficult to be too encouraged because the caseworkers have a very hard road ahead due to mental delays on the behalf of the mother and challenges from the birth father. So the birth parents lawyers will most likely bring out every claim they can find.

As far as the baby goes she is still a completely separate case. She hasn't even been officially added to any substitute paperwork beyond the initial concerns. Next Monday the caseworker and the parents lawyers meet with the judge for a pretrial to determine where the case goes from here. It does sound like the caseworker will push for the term adoption to be added to the long term recommendation if reunification can't happen. This really doesn't change much on our end -basically it's just semantics on the paperwork.

So, the meeting happened with the outcome we expected. We ask that you continue to pray. This process is very difficult for the family. We are trying to keep this all from the boys so that they aren't too upset about the unknowns. We are focusing on finishing the school year, getting kindergarten paperwork started, summer gymnastics signed up for and 6 month checkups held.

For now we count down to Day out with Thomas -5 weeks away and August birthday -4 months away. Brad and I are looking forward to summer vacations, having fun just as a family of 5 in our new van and making memories and getting a couple of pictures of it all.

Blessings,
The Mortons