Help fight case to adopt niece from foster care.
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We need more power, justice, respect, change, and diversity in our social services agencies. The system is corrupt. According to DHS laws a social services agency is supposed to do their due diligence to see if a family is fit to get a family member out of the foster care system. What I have experienced as a black woman has been terrible trying to get my niece out of foster care. There have been days where I cannot sleep thinking of my niece. My niece is living with a white non relative family and I haven't been allowed to see her for almost two years. I'm not judging.. It would be okay if it was handled differently. The appellate courts have already found the county to be unreasonable. The appellate courts have urged them to follow the law. We had a court hearing again at the district court with Olmsted County Sept 1st and it was the same judge who first denied us. He was mean and did not listen to the appellate court opinion. At the end, he was emotional and used his emotions. He showed a picture of my niece making statements that she doesn't know me and she is happy where she is. That was very traumatizing and inappropriate for him to show. He denied visitation and will decide if I can adopt her. My lawyer is thinking he will deny the adoption because he won't even allow us to see her.
The county had made me believe that once parents rights were terminated, I will be allowed to get my niece. The county is now lying saying I never responded at all to them which is a lie. They were sitting in my living room on March 13th 2020 at 9:30am-1pm explaining the adoption details to my husband and I. We thought we were finally going to be able to be heard from the courts and our motion was denied to intervene in the adoption in Dec of 2020. The judge denied our motion, but not before saying these terrible words to us. He said, it does not matter when we came forward, his answer would still be no to adopt my niece. The judge also said, if I allow your niece to live with you guys, she could end up pregnant and lose her parental rights at 15 years old.
There is no reason why we shouldn't have been allowed to adopt my niece. My husband and I are stable, have a stable home, stable income, caring, and loving family. I also have my masters in mental health psychology with 12 years of experience, so I can deal with challenging behaviors. Now we were forced to pay almost $30,000 to adopt my niece.
Here is the full story below.
My husband and I have been trying to get my niece out of foster care since Oct 2019, we responded Oct 29 after receiving the letter in the mail on September 16th 2019 and my mom telling me she wasn't able to get her grandchild. We didn't respond right away because my mother was working on getting her grandchild and has been in communication with the county about getting my niece since August. I waited until it didn't work. The county did not say why my mother wasn't considered as an placement option. My husband and I did come forward after hearing this did not work out.
When we came forward, I called Olmsted social services multiple times and did not get a call back until Nov 4th by a lady Cindy, she said she will have my niece's social worker call me. My niece's social worker did not call me until Dec1st 2019.
The family conference was scheduled for Dec 6th, 2019. At that family conference, I told my niece's foster parents, guardian ad litem, my niece's social worker, adoption worker, my niece's other family, and other Olmsted workers that I wanted to foster my niece. My niece's social worker said they are not interested in moving her anymore since she has already been in 5 different homes within two months. We then said we want to adopt her on Dec 6, 2019 at the family conference, and they said you guys will be considered if the parents' rights are terminated and to be patient.
I said okay, well can we see her? We were told by the social worker that she will speak to my niece's therapist to see if it's a good idea.
She didn't get back to us. We asked again, and no response. We didn't get a call from my niece's social worker until Feb 6, 2020 and they asked if we were still interested in adopting my niece. I said yes, they said can we all meet with you guys in person to discuss details. Of course, we said yes, where and when??...
The meeting was scheduled March 13th, 2020. The county met with us at my home 3/13/20 and discussed details and later said, let's wait this all out, but you guys are considered as a placement option. I have text messages to prove this. On 4/13/20 got a call that the courts were shut down due to Covid-19 and that they will give us more details when they get closer to rights being terminated. So, at that time we decided to move into a bigger home to make more room for my niece. The county told us my niece and daughter cannot share rooms.
If rights were terminated, we wanted to be prepared to take my niece and have a room for her. We moved in two months to a bigger home. During this time, we did not hear back from my niece's social worker or from my family on the status of the case. We thought the courts were still on hold. We were also supposed to see my niece and the social worker never got back to us on that as well.
What happened and what went wrong? We thought we did everything right and were doing our due diligence to get things done what they asked us to do before adoption. They told us they would help us before rights were terminated, but everything was on hold due to Covid-19.
On 6/26/20 rights were terminated?? Huh, my husband and I felt ghosted. Huh when did the courts open back up? We made numerous calls to the Olmsted social services after hearing rights were terminated. We did not find out the parents' rights were terminated until July 16th. The social worker has my number and she could have updated me. She did not and now acts like I do not exist.
We were frustrated because Olmsted County told us that they will get us ready before the parents' rights were terminated and they wanted to make us look good in front of the judge by preparing us with a home study. They also told us that they will help us see my niece and felt really optimistic about that back in March 2020, but they lied. They were found to have broken several laws.
On 10/6/20, we finally started the home study process because Olmsted County finally sent a referral over to LSS. Finally assigned a worker to us and she tells us we need a lawyer because my niece could be adopted any day now?? Huh?? How could this happen??? We are so lost, heartbroken, and confused. They told us once the referral was sent over, we would get a chance to step in front of the judge to get a chance to adopt, but they lied to us again. They moved on without us. No call back or anything. No updates.
I called a lawyer on Oct 6, 2020 and they told me according to Mn statute 260c.260 I am supposed to be sent a placement letter regarding my niece and to study this status. He told me to call Olmsted County and to demand a placement letter and that they have 30 days to send me that letter. Olmsted County said by law they have to send me a placement letter before she is adopted. The county was tired of my calls and they set up a meeting with us on Oct 15th, 2020 to discuss details regarding my niece.
In that meeting, they will send me a placement letter as soon as it gets close to my niece's placement hearing. They said my niece could get adopted in months and that I should send the county a letter and they will file a motion on my behalf. They also said I should file a motion to intervene in the adoption once the placement letter is sent out for me to intervene in the adoption. I said okay, I will do it! Never received a placement letter. They tried to have my niece adopted on Nov 9th, 2020 and didn't send me a placement letter (according to the law) like they said they will. My lawyer even said, Olmsted County is up to something and what are they up to?
The state is trying to keep my niece away from us. I filed a motion to intervene with a lawyer and my motion was denied. It was denied because they said I did not respond to any notifications and that they did not hear back from me. Also, they said, they did not hear from me until Oct 19th 2020. I have call logs that proved in Oct 2019, I called Olmsted County multiple times and they did not call me back until Nov 4 Th 2019. I was told my niece's social worker will give me a call and she did not call me until Dec 1st 2019. I have text messages from my niece's social worker that they were coming to my home on March 13th 2020 to discuss adoption details etc.. also call logs to prove that I was responsive and acknowledging Olmsted County notifications. They also said, I was being considered as a potential placement option if my niece needed to be adopted. But in court, they said they never considered me as an option.
My husband and I need your guys' help. We need the state to know the truth. Family did step forward and continue to step forward, but were misled by Olmsted County and felt like they judged us due to the color of our skin.
The county had made me believe that once parents rights were terminated, I will be allowed to get my niece. The county is now lying saying I never responded at all to them which is a lie. They were sitting in my living room on March 13th 2020 at 9:30am-1pm explaining the adoption details to my husband and I. We thought we were finally going to be able to be heard from the courts and our motion was denied to intervene in the adoption in Dec of 2020. The judge denied our motion, but not before saying these terrible words to us. He said, it does not matter when we came forward, his answer would still be no to adopt my niece. The judge also said, if I allow your niece to live with you guys, she could end up pregnant and lose her parental rights at 15 years old.
There is no reason why we shouldn't have been allowed to adopt my niece. My husband and I are stable, have a stable home, stable income, caring, and loving family. I also have my masters in mental health psychology with 12 years of experience, so I can deal with challenging behaviors. Now we were forced to pay almost $30,000 to adopt my niece.
Here is the full story below.
My husband and I have been trying to get my niece out of foster care since Oct 2019, we responded Oct 29 after receiving the letter in the mail on September 16th 2019 and my mom telling me she wasn't able to get her grandchild. We didn't respond right away because my mother was working on getting her grandchild and has been in communication with the county about getting my niece since August. I waited until it didn't work. The county did not say why my mother wasn't considered as an placement option. My husband and I did come forward after hearing this did not work out.
When we came forward, I called Olmsted social services multiple times and did not get a call back until Nov 4th by a lady Cindy, she said she will have my niece's social worker call me. My niece's social worker did not call me until Dec1st 2019.
The family conference was scheduled for Dec 6th, 2019. At that family conference, I told my niece's foster parents, guardian ad litem, my niece's social worker, adoption worker, my niece's other family, and other Olmsted workers that I wanted to foster my niece. My niece's social worker said they are not interested in moving her anymore since she has already been in 5 different homes within two months. We then said we want to adopt her on Dec 6, 2019 at the family conference, and they said you guys will be considered if the parents' rights are terminated and to be patient.
I said okay, well can we see her? We were told by the social worker that she will speak to my niece's therapist to see if it's a good idea.
She didn't get back to us. We asked again, and no response. We didn't get a call from my niece's social worker until Feb 6, 2020 and they asked if we were still interested in adopting my niece. I said yes, they said can we all meet with you guys in person to discuss details. Of course, we said yes, where and when??...
The meeting was scheduled March 13th, 2020. The county met with us at my home 3/13/20 and discussed details and later said, let's wait this all out, but you guys are considered as a placement option. I have text messages to prove this. On 4/13/20 got a call that the courts were shut down due to Covid-19 and that they will give us more details when they get closer to rights being terminated. So, at that time we decided to move into a bigger home to make more room for my niece. The county told us my niece and daughter cannot share rooms.
If rights were terminated, we wanted to be prepared to take my niece and have a room for her. We moved in two months to a bigger home. During this time, we did not hear back from my niece's social worker or from my family on the status of the case. We thought the courts were still on hold. We were also supposed to see my niece and the social worker never got back to us on that as well.
What happened and what went wrong? We thought we did everything right and were doing our due diligence to get things done what they asked us to do before adoption. They told us they would help us before rights were terminated, but everything was on hold due to Covid-19.
On 6/26/20 rights were terminated?? Huh, my husband and I felt ghosted. Huh when did the courts open back up? We made numerous calls to the Olmsted social services after hearing rights were terminated. We did not find out the parents' rights were terminated until July 16th. The social worker has my number and she could have updated me. She did not and now acts like I do not exist.
We were frustrated because Olmsted County told us that they will get us ready before the parents' rights were terminated and they wanted to make us look good in front of the judge by preparing us with a home study. They also told us that they will help us see my niece and felt really optimistic about that back in March 2020, but they lied. They were found to have broken several laws.
On 10/6/20, we finally started the home study process because Olmsted County finally sent a referral over to LSS. Finally assigned a worker to us and she tells us we need a lawyer because my niece could be adopted any day now?? Huh?? How could this happen??? We are so lost, heartbroken, and confused. They told us once the referral was sent over, we would get a chance to step in front of the judge to get a chance to adopt, but they lied to us again. They moved on without us. No call back or anything. No updates.
I called a lawyer on Oct 6, 2020 and they told me according to Mn statute 260c.260 I am supposed to be sent a placement letter regarding my niece and to study this status. He told me to call Olmsted County and to demand a placement letter and that they have 30 days to send me that letter. Olmsted County said by law they have to send me a placement letter before she is adopted. The county was tired of my calls and they set up a meeting with us on Oct 15th, 2020 to discuss details regarding my niece.
In that meeting, they will send me a placement letter as soon as it gets close to my niece's placement hearing. They said my niece could get adopted in months and that I should send the county a letter and they will file a motion on my behalf. They also said I should file a motion to intervene in the adoption once the placement letter is sent out for me to intervene in the adoption. I said okay, I will do it! Never received a placement letter. They tried to have my niece adopted on Nov 9th, 2020 and didn't send me a placement letter (according to the law) like they said they will. My lawyer even said, Olmsted County is up to something and what are they up to?
The state is trying to keep my niece away from us. I filed a motion to intervene with a lawyer and my motion was denied. It was denied because they said I did not respond to any notifications and that they did not hear back from me. Also, they said, they did not hear from me until Oct 19th 2020. I have call logs that proved in Oct 2019, I called Olmsted County multiple times and they did not call me back until Nov 4 Th 2019. I was told my niece's social worker will give me a call and she did not call me until Dec 1st 2019. I have text messages from my niece's social worker that they were coming to my home on March 13th 2020 to discuss adoption details etc.. also call logs to prove that I was responsive and acknowledging Olmsted County notifications. They also said, I was being considered as a potential placement option if my niece needed to be adopted. But in court, they said they never considered me as an option.
My husband and I need your guys' help. We need the state to know the truth. Family did step forward and continue to step forward, but were misled by Olmsted County and felt like they judged us due to the color of our skin.
Organizer
Brianna Robinson-Harris
Organizer
Champlin, MN