It's been a long time since I posted, but there's honestly not much to say.
Visits at BioMom's house still haven't started. She has to pass a drug screen before they can and the one she took doesn't count. (She took one at a place that DFCS isn't confident is careful to ensure that the sample truly came from her.)
The kids are antsy about when they'll go home. L knows she's approaching the 1 year mark of being here, although I don't think she knows what that means. It's just that it's a really long time, a lot longer than any of us were expecting. She's telling everyone she won't be at our school next year; when I gently reminded her that we don't know that for sure, she got super clingy for 3 days and kept asking me when she would go home to Mommy. (To which my answer is still a steady: "I don't know, sweetheart; when I know something for sure I promise I will tell you, but right now I really don't know when you'll go home.") She really thought she would be going to Paternal Aunt's at least at the end of school, but that's not going to happen.
O had an assessment for counseling, now that he's past his 4th birthday. They've done letter recognition at preschool and I've tried to do some at home, but pretty much gave up because he never seemed to retain the information from one time to the next. At the assessment, the little stinker correctly identified every letter she asked him. But he also demonstrated the difficulty in responding to instructions from adults appropriately that has me most concerned, so I think they saw the "real O."
The next hearing is next month. It's supposed to be the "permanency hearing" where a plan for them to have a, well, permanent home is put in place, whether that's reunifying with BioMom or going to another family member. Or, the judge could give her "three more months" at that point. I just don't know. Which is crazy making for all involved.
BioMom keeps talking to them about her house -- even though she's been told not to do that until there's a date set for the first home visit. O has all these unrealistic fantasies about it, so I'd kind of like them to hurry up and get to see it. It's hard for him to picture something realistic. (He insists she has a pool with a water slide in her back yard, for example.) And yet, I don't want them to go there and see "their rooms" and get excited about "going home" to that place if she isn't going to be able to pay the rent and keep it!
Oh, and BioMom got a puppy "for them." A pit bull puppy. I...just...can't...say anything about that!
