At the hearing..
We admitted to the first four allegations. I fell asleep and he got out. His medical was behind. His dental was behind. The house was dirty that day. But I made a point of clarifying each. Like the fact our apartment has monthly inspections which we pass, and its not usually dirty. And that I had a signed statement from the landlady that he was only outside 20 minutes, not an hour. And then they got into allegations that weren’t on the first paperwork. That our son was not circumcised and had been improperly cared for. I flat out denied that, and pointed out that the statement was completely the foster parent’s claim, and (as my lawyer had pointed out in the first hearing) there was nothing to that effect on the doctor’s paperwork.
The CPS lawyer went off, claiming we’d said we’d agree to everything and she would have had the officer there if she’d known we were going to say that. The officer wasn’t even there until after the landlady had our son.
The judge ruled our son as abused and neglected. I still don’t get that. How can they lump the two together? There’s a world of difference between abusing a child and making wrong decisions like not having current shots. And even the latter isn’t neglect if its done with thought and concern for the child.
And the judge asked the lawyers what had been decided at the MDT. He didn’t seem very happy to find out *nothing* had been decided. Just that we would admit, and we would go to psychological evaluation.
When we went to the MDT, I had gone prepared with a “tentative treatment plan”. We never went over it or any plan at the MDT. I had given a copy of my plan to my lawyer before the hearing. And I honestly think that plan may have saved us. Because my lawyer gave a copy of it to everyone in the room. And the judge spent a good five minutes reading it. Then the judge asked how long the evaluation would take. CPS said 30 days.
The judge ordered that the evaluation, and a new MDT be done by June 22nd, and that another discretionary hearing would be held on the 22nd. He said at that meeting, we could choose to deny the allegations we had admitted to.
So, in a way, its like nothing happened, because it’s all been put off till the next hearing. I feel that’s neither bad nor good. It could have been a lot worse.
But the next MDT *must* go well, and we have to come out of it with a plan. Otherwise the judge will decide, and I somehow don’t think that’s a good thing..
neversleepagain