On Wednesday afternoon, I went to school, got a taxi, and went to court. There was a pre-conference before the hearing. Basically, the pre-conference hearing is where CPS' lawyer lays out the charges and sees what the bio parent will agree to before the hearing to save time. Custody was not challenged at this time, meaning that Baby A will be with us for at least a month. There's another hearing in April. It may be the case that the bio mom challenges custody and tries to get Baby A placed with a friend. After the hearing, I talked briefly with Baby A's lawyer and he told me which hearings were important and which ones were not.
I also attempted to strike up a conversation with Baby A's mom. It is something that our agency recommends: trying to be friendly with bio parents so that they see foster parents as working toward the best interest of the child. While family "reunification" is the goal of the case, it makes sense that bio parents and foster parents try to get along. In Miss R's case, I talked with her parents when they attended hearings. In fact, the last time that I saw Miss R's bio mom, she gave me a hug and thanked me for taking care of Miss R. That wasn't expected. I was glad that she realized that the case had nothing to do with me per se...as foster parents don't determine outcomes of cases...and she genuinely seemed to understand that we were taking good care of her daughter. Although one of the Baby A's bio mom's friends had been friendly and civil with me before the hearing, Baby A's mom was not receptive to my gesture after the hearing. The word "hostile" came to mind.
In the late afternoon, I went over to my parents' house and did a little work. Aunt Carolyn and Poppy picked up The Twins at daycare. Jeff brought Baby A to the house for dinner. And Aunt Erin made potato pancakes and dessert to go with my mom's corned beef. Miss R and Henry were in moods. They didn't eat much dinner. Aunt Erin got Miss R to eat some of the beef by pretending to eat off Miss R's plate. Miss R was competitive and ate every time Erin pretended to steal food from the plate. Henry was on a hunger strike, declaring that he didn't like the food he didn't even try.
Baby A was fussy. We are wondering if colic is upon us. She is moody in the afternoons and early evenings. It is late, and I'm on the first shift of baby duty. She's sleeping in Henry's old jungle swing. Jeff put it together. When we first put Henry in it, he was so light that the swing would whip back and forth too quickly to be called relaxing.
Anyway, I'm going to get some school work done. It was an interesting day. And I would like a couple uneventful days in the weeks to come. Uneventful is good.
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