Re: Can a foster parent sue DYFS?

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> "you can send a complaint in writing to to Director"
Christine
> This response is typical of the responses I've been getting
from various foster parent advocacy groups as well. I've
heard everything from "you don't have a leg to stand on,
relatives always have the rights" to "you should have
understood what you were getting into when you became a foster
parent".

We understand your plight and are considering a crusade to
help children like my little Maddie. Maddie is now 1 year old
and was 8 months old when she was given to her great aunt and
uncle. Maddie was placed with us when she was just a week
old, she had drugs in her system and was abandoned at the
hospital. When it came time for the court case to determine
her placement both DSS and the guardian ad litem recommended
that Maddie stay with us. The family had to undergo a
homestudy in order to get her, but as the homestudy (which
came back "clean") was done by DSS in another state it was
done in a vacuum, so the social worker assigned to the case
never heard the accusations against the great aunt & uncle.
These accusations included: 1) he'd been fired from 3 jobs for
stealing 2) they'd been separated several times 3) he drove
his own son home from a party when he was stone drunk. The
judge acted as if his hands were tied. He didn't care about
any of the accusations. When DSS told us that the baby would
go to the family as determined by DSS was in the best interest
of the baby, we believed them. That was simply not true. The
premise is that family IS in the best interest of the
children. Subsequently, by the way, the mother came forward
and signed a relinquishment (before her parental rights were
terminated) to DSS (which they accepted) naming us as the
adoptive parents. She told me that she didn't do what she
should have done to keep her baby safe, but she was doing that
now by giving her the best chance at a normal life. She told
us that this great uncle & aunt fight like cats and dogs.

The judge found a way to say that that relinquishment was not
valid based on the fact that DSS did not have "physical"
custody of the baby at the time only "legal" custody. It's
all a bunch of legal gobbledy gook, but what we want to do is
change is the federal law that gives family this unreasonable
benefit of the doubt. I mean REALLY, is a great aunt & uncle
in there 50's, whose children are grown, who live in tiny
trailer, who have little in the way of income, who have
questionable morals a better place for Maddie to be raised
than two people in a loving marriage who've been praying for a
baby for many years. Also, the entire extended family, i.e.
other aunts & uncles, wrote letters and testified to the fact
that they wanted Maddie to be raised by us. What happened?
The judge couldn't use his own judgement...he was handcuffed
by precedent that said, "if there is family that is willing
and can obtain a clean homestudy, the child must be placed
with them."

Tell me, how is this truly in the best interest of the
children. If you have been touched by a similar situation or
know of someone who has, please pass on my story and my
email. I want to create a movement to change this law.