birth mother

before the birth mother’s rights were due to be terminated in september she was allowed a visit with the kids. she had only visited them once in their 13 months in foster care. she had monthly visits scheduled but missed them. we brought the kids for a meeting with her in the summer but she arrived so late that we had already been instructed to take the kids home. the county workers felt she should be allowed her one visit so that the court would not decide to mandate it before her termination hearing. i had already gone back to work so my partner took them for the visit. the worker waited until the mother arrived before calling him to make the trip. during the visit he brought a camera for photos to be taken. we wanted to keep them for later in life to show our kids their birth mother. my partner was very nervous. the social worker almost called off the meeting when our son went limp and didn’t want to be held by his birth mother. he calmed down and both kids played in the room with her while being supervised by the social worker. my partner waited outside. when the visit was over the kids were very confused. they didn’t want to go to my partner and cried when they were placed in their car seats. they calmed down after about half an hour but for the next few days we saw their behavior regress, crying and acting out. the social worker made note of their behavior for the court documents. a few weeks later we were on pins and needles until we got the call that the mother’s rights had been terminated.