What Now?

Well, true to form I am well behind, but not that I've forgotten. Not by a long shot. I'm still needing to upload all those warm, happy holiday photos.
It's just that as to be expected in my world, nothing stays smooth for long...

Fortunately it's not V, or any of us for that matter.. whew...

UNfortunately, it is my neice and nephew. My somewhat mislead (to put it mildly) sister-in-law lost custody of her two kids this past week due to a case of suspected child abuse. My 8 month old nephew is currently residing in the ICU due to "extensive bruising over his entire body, multiple rib fractures, free floating fluid intra abdominally, and fluid on the brain due to suspected intentional trauma."

*sigh*

My neice is 4 and we were able to collect her from her Mom at the hospital before the fireworks started. We had NO idea what was about to happen since she hasn't been a frequent visitor to our home in several months. She called out of the blue last week asking for a ride to the ER, and then it all began.

"L", my neice, looks to be in good health which is one good thing. She came home with us willingly and enjoyed a night of pizza and movies as her little brother was scanned head to toe and their mother was grilled by DCF and sheriff's deputies as to the cause of his injuries. Apparently she wasn't much help, and during a court hearing today she officially lost custody of them both for at LEAST the next 6 months.

The night this happened, after we put the kids to bed, a DCF worker showed up at our house and took "L" into foster care until the preliminary investigation is over. We immediately offered ourselves as caregivers. For now we're being background checked and home studied.

She and my nephew "C" have different fathers, and "C"'s father has shown an interest from out of state, that he's willing to take custody of him when he's able to be released from the hospital, but we'll see. If need be we'll take them both.

For now, until all the preliminaries are handled, and a permanent caseworker is assigned, no one can have any contact with either of them. It's maddening. We can't even call to check on how the baby is doing and we had NO part in any of this. "L" is in a foster home.. somewhere in the county.. and we have no way to find out where until next week. As hard as this is, we do know that "C" is being well cared for, so our immediate push is to get "L" back here with us as soon as possible. If everything goes the way we're hoping we may be able to take temporary custody of her by the end of next week.

How can someone be so irresponsible with something so precious ???

This is such a nightmare....