Prayer for my friends! Custody Battle

[Jack Shephard]

I know this may be moved to the Sanctuary, but I wanted to post it here first. This is an email written to my wife and I.

These are our good frineds in TN. They have been taking care of this child and trying to adopt and now this situation as came up. Please keep them in your prayers. May God have his way.


My dear friends –
I don’t know how to begin this email. Yesterday we had a meeting with DCS’ lawyer regarding the termination hearing that is on 8/28-29. We left that meeting with no false hopes that we will get to keep Jeremiah. In the court’s eyes, his biological father has started to make improvements and therefore will more that likely be awarded custody of Jeremiah. Because they do not want to leave a child with only one parent, if they do not terminate the rights of the dad they will not terminate the rights of the mother.

The case will still go to trial, but the judge that presides over this case is usually for the biological parents no matter what. They feel that if Jeremiah is in a safe environment, then he will be better off with them. There is a lot more that I could say but my heart is not in it. We do not know how this will end, but we do know that God is in control of the situation.

God is with us and will work this out for Jeremiah’s good, but we all need your prayers. Please keep Jeremiah, his family and us in your prayers; we need all the help we can get.

[tamor]

How long have they had the child? How old is he? Why is he in foster care?

[Margies3]

JTullock, their hearts have to be breaking. We did foster care for many children. And both of our boys were adopted after their parent's right had been terminated.

With our boys things turned out wonderfully. But in several of the cases of the foster children, I watched as they were returned to parents who not only shouldn't have the children - they really should have been in jail!! It is a painful thing to watch happen to a child. My only consolation in all of this was reminding myself that even if they had to go back according to the judge, at least for a short period of time they had known what it was like to be in a place where they were loved and cherished. My hope was and is that for some of these little ones, they will latch onto that as they grow up. I know I'm probably looking through but frankly, sometimes we do that just to be able to survive.

I am in prayer for your friends and for their little one. I am praying that the judge will hear himself saying words that come out of his mouth that he never intended to say. Words like, "all parental rights are terminated." God, who loves this child even more than your friends do, CAN do that if He so chooses.

[Jack Shephard]

Originally Posted by tamor

How long have they had the child? How old is he? Why is he in foster care?

They have had Jeremiah around mothers day. He had been with a family for several years and that family had a child of their own who became very jealous as time went on so they gave him up.

Originally Posted by Margies3

JTullock, their hearts have to be breaking. We did foster care for many children. And both of our boys were adopted after their parent's right had been terminated.

With our boys things turned out wonderfully. But in several of the cases of the foster children, I watched as they were returned to parents who not only shouldn't have the children - they really should have been in jail!! It is a painful thing to watch happen to a child. My only consolation in all of this was reminding myself that even if they had to go back according to the judge, at least for a short period of time they had known what it was like to be in a place where they were loved and cherished. My hope was and is that for some of these little ones, they will latch onto that as they grow up. I know I'm probably looking through but frankly, sometimes we do that just to be able to survive.

I am in prayer for your friends and for their little one. I am praying that the judge will hear himself saying words that come out of his mouth that he never intended to say. Words like, "all parental rights are terminated." God, who loves this child even more than your friends do, CAN do that if He so chooses.

Margies, thank you for the encouraging words. My wife and I were asked to be God-parents. Since we live in Az and they are in Tn we have not met him but we agreed. We were to meet him this next weekend though my mothers health is fading so we may not get to see him after all. Thank you for you prayers they are needed. The mother, Tabitha, babysat me when I was three so she has been in my life for a very long time. She is a sweet lady and John is a big teddy bear. I have reservations about if they are mature enough to have kids now. They are in their 40'2 but age, as you know has little to do with maturity. No one is ever ready for kids I can well atest to. But I know they already love Jeremiah. So I hope that it works out. God only knows what Jeremiah needs.

[Sister Alvear]

praying.