Court

So kristin and I went to court for the kids today. We arrived at about 9:30 this morning and after disrobing for the metal detectors, using the bathroom and waiting for the clerk to tell us where to go, we finally arrive outside the court room. The waiting room consisted of two rows of chairs, facing eachother and, of course, our kids bio parents, who were sitting seperate with several chairs between them. It wasnt hard to see that they were "over" eachother. He looked well kepts and it kind of surprised me a bit, considering all I had ever seen were mug shots. She, on the other hand, looked as if she had been drug from one end of the earth to another. Her hair was unkempt, her face suffered the look of a well worn drug addict. It made me sad. It's amazing how drugs can just ruin someone...and not to mention the other somones who depends on them. The bio- father entered a meeting room after being beckoned by his attorney. Ten minutes later he came out, looking unhappy and left the building. He never returned for the hearing. At about 11:10 we finally made it into the court room, the judge first addressed the fathers rights, she was informed he left and decided she would change his case plan to severance/adoption. Then she addressed the mothers plan. The attorney for the mother argued (although it was a faint argument at best) that the mother had been working 3 jobs and had a hard time completing her court ordered services. She also said that if the judge ruled severance/adoption then the maternal grandmother was interested in taking the children. The judge rules severance/adoption again and they set hearings for june, july and august. So now, we wait again. If the kids go to maternal grandmother then their mother gets them back after all, so they will get to see their mother and never live with her again. We already have trouble enough now that they have started visits, I cannot imagine what their poor little lives will be like.

So we wait. And we get kicked around like rag dolls and the kids fate is in the hands of a judicial system that protects a parents right to screw but not a childs right to have a decent upbringing. We wait and we grow bitter at the absolute lack of compassion existing in caseworkers and judges alike. We marvel at the stupidity of these bio parents and we are sad for the tiny little bodies that are supposed to be sleeping in the next room. We dont have time to feel sorry for ourselves right now but when we do...