PLACEMENT OF KIP
 Licensed
foster
parents Julie and Brian had inquired several times about adopting a
tod- dler named Kip who had been placed in foster care over a
year ago. Julie and Brian knew Kip, he was related to their
own adopted son Kevin, and they had encouraged and maintained contact
between the two brothers for over a year. They were looking
forward to adopting Kip so that the two brothers could grow up
together. (In Arizona, maintaining family relationships is
one of the factors to be considered by the court in granting adoption
placements.)
Although they inquired several times about when
Kip would be eligible for placement, a selection committee was
convened without notifying Julie
and Brian.
Another couple who lived almost 800 miles away was selected and Kip was
sent there the next day. When the case went before the judge,
the judge expressed shocked disbelief that a suitable placement closer
to Kip's community could not have been found. He ordered a second
selection committee be convened, and that Kip be returned immediately
to his previous foster placement pending another selection.
When the next committee convened, Julie and
Brian's application was among those considered. The agency
caseworker warned the selection committee that Julie and Brian's home
environment was "dangerous" and the committee again chose the distant
family. Julie called Defenders in tears asking for help.
Defenders
eventually ascertained there was no evidence danger in the
home, they had
previously been
approved with flying colors by the very same agency which placed
serveral foster children with them over the years.
Defenders assisted Julie and Brian in drafting a
motion to intervene on behalf of Kevin, which they then filed with the
court. The judge granted their motion and assigned an
attorney to represent Kevin's interest in the placement of his
biological brother Kip. Through Kevin's attorney, a satisfactory
compromise |
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JOSHUA'S
ESCAPE
 Father came to
Defenders because of some serious concerns he had about
7-year-old Josh living in another state with Mother. During a
summer visit with Father in Arizona, Josh related to a
pediatrician that mommy had locked him in the closet for two days
without food or water while she cooked "mooley" on the
stove. Josh cried when he told the doctor that he had soiled
himself during that confinement.
The doctor immediately reported to CPS who began an
investigation, but CPS was unable to confirm anything due to a lack of
cooperation from the other state's child protection agency. Father
could not afford an attorney but he knew he had to do something.
This is when he called Defenders for help.
With template pleadings from the Supreme Court website and
guidance from Defenders, Father filed an emergency motion in an Arizona
superior court for change of custody. Defenders
contacted the other state's attorney general for instructions on how
Father could obtain numerous local CPS reports to introduce to the
Arizona court as evidence.
Father was successful in gaining temporary custody of Josh
who is now blending into his new family. Father reports that Josh is
doing very well in his new Arizona school, he has
made lots of friends. A follow up hearing was calendared, and
Defenders obtained a volunteer lawyer to help Father make this
temporary arrangement a permanent one for Josh until Mother could get
things under control for herself. The judge ordered Mother to submit to
supervised visitations and regular drug screening.
was reached
whereby Kevin and Kip will not lose contact with each other
through their growing years. The rights of both of these
children to their relationship with each other were preserved
and enforced by the court.
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