Trying to get some expert opinions. Long story short as I can make it. My wife and I are foster parents to two kiddos. The oldest is 20 months old and the youngest is five months old. The older child came into care at 4 days old to us and the younger came into care at one month old. He had to stay at hospital for a month for health reasons before he came into care and live with us. We were set to have TPR hearing for the first child in March 2024. Since the younger child was born and we were willing to take him in, DFCS combined the cases which gave us a new TPR trial date. We were in favor of this because we wanted the siblings to be together. They have the same biological mom and dad. We have our combined TPR trial for them in a few weeks. The bio dad hasn't worked the case plan and recently has had health issues and stated that he's not in any condition to take care of kids. Bio mom has been in prison since September 2023 and her max possible release date is May 2025. Before she went to prison last year, she had about fifteen visits but left three different rehabs during this time period that were part of her case plan. The visits with the older child are the only part of the plan that she worked consistently. There have no visits in the last ten months. She hasn't had a visit with the younger child since he was born. She has had two other children TPR'd that are now adopted. Apparently she's doing better in prison now and is in a transition facility. It sounds like she is going to fight the TPR. In my opinion, DFCS did all they could to support reunification. They did all they could do. Once she went to prison, the case was switched to TPR. My question to the vent experts is, do you think she has any kind of case? Is there a chance that the case could get extended if it looks like she is going to get out early? Are extensions common? I know every case is different and there are no definites. I'm just trying to get a good grasp of what to expect to calm my nerves. This has been a journey like no other for our family. These babies have been our lives, and we can't imagine not getting to adopt. The older child is severely attached (as are we) and has been saying "mommy" and "daddy" for six months now. We are ready to officially be a family. Thank you for any and all expert opinions.
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