KEEP CHRISTOPHER SAFE!

My name is Susan Dietrich. Help is needed. I never thought I would start a Go Fund me, but I fell in love with Christopher. He is the Foster son of my cousin and her husband. (Chris and Sandy) We need $3,000.00 ASAP, to retain an Attorney. Just to start the process of having Chris and Sandy(my cousins) declared in court "De Facto Parent" of Christopher. Then they will be recognized in Court. They need to start the process moving forward towards cutting parental rights and moving towards adoption. Then they need to give the Attorney the additional $2,625.00. The $5,625.00 is for 15 hours of the Attorneys time. They became Foster parents in hope of becoming a forever family, with the help of Foster to adopt through Social Services. This path is not for the faint of heart and is a long process. Two years ago, they got the call for Christopher. Only 2 days old and no place to go. They opened their home and hearts to him. Christopher was born addicted to a variety of drugs and alcohol. He nearly died his first week of life. It took 8 months of holding, nurturing and loving him, day and night to get him through those horriffic withdrawals. He is now a happy, healthy, georgous 2 year old boy. That loves being with his Mommy and Daddy. They know everything about Christopher. His likes, his dislikes. How he needs his fishy musical nightlight at nap and night time. His biological Grandmother wanted him, after a paternity test. But her home was not approved due to criminal records and TWO convictions of Child Abuse. The Social Worker told the court that the Grandmother did participate in classes for the child abuse convictions. So after an appeal, the Grandmother was granted weekly, unsupervised, visits. Now Christopher's biological Dad is out of jail and was granted Two visits a week. Supervised, thankfully. Keep in mind Reunification is what Social Services wants. Crazy right, or is it just me? From day one, they said they wanted to adopt him. It isn't that easy, even if you have had that child for years. A home you have been in since birth. Social Services wants reunification. But, is that always in the best interest of the child? After trusting that the system would do what's right for the child(ren), they recently lost another baby they had for over 2 years. His second removal from his biological Mom, who has only raised him for 3 months of his life. What about bonding? Christopher loved him like a brother and they wanted to adopt him as well. I could go on forever about how loved and cherished he is, but does the Social Worker care about that? No. They push for reunification. Doesn't matter that biological dad was in jail for most of his life. Nor that the Grandmother was convicted of Two child abuse charges against her. Does she care that Christopher gets nightmares at night after these required visits? Nope. Just comply with the visits. One last rant. Did you know that when these parents visit some(not all) of their kids in the foster care system, they GET PAID. They get paid to get clean and sober. They get paid to visit some of their kids. Then they get free housing and support when they are reunited. Does any of this make sense to you? It doesn't to me, something is wrong. We need to have these child(ren) looked at as individuals with rights. Not a check list on a piece of paper. I don't think Social Services started out as a revolving door operation. Help Christopher. Thanks for contributing and listening to me. Susan