court records after 30 yrs?

[Dani2012]

Hi, just joined this forum and intruduced myself in newcomers tonight. Like I said there I just recently came back to the US and come to find out, when my daughter was taken from me by CPS and placed for adoption, her complete bc was re-written, so now it states that her adoptive parents are her biological parents. I fled years ago with my two youngest girls to Germany and don't have any records of the case with my oldest any more. Can anyone give me any info on if and how I can retrieve all of the court records from back then? My daughter and I are having a seriously hard time getting our family ties back together, although she loves me and wants me here, there are deffinetly big issues that stem from all the years in foster and then adoption home.

Also I want to mention, that if I can in any way become involved in some sort of volunteer work in theses issues I'd love to help. I am in early retirement and by trait a family social worker; but one taught to HELP families work things out, show them self-help issues and make the families more stable!

I'd be very happy to hear from anyone......Dani

[monkette31]

What state are you in? maybe you can adopt her back....depending on state/county, the laws on unsealing adoption records can vary widely. I'm glad you're here to help, kind of how i got into it, just perusing the forums and lending experience where and if I can. The experience of losing children to these agencies and the threat of life severance is horrible.

[Dani2012]

Hi Monkette, we both live in WA, same state this happened in. Your info is intersting, but I'm also wondering, why should I have to go tis way, when I didn't do anything wrong in the first place and my husband had been freed of all charges? Don't get me wrong, not at all rebuffing your help, but I am in early retirement due to chronic illness and I receive only a very small pension, from which I can barely live off of, let alone get medical or pay for an adoption. The current problem we're having is that my daughter needs to sponsor me to become a legal resident again, because immigration states I abandoned my residentship 20 yrs ago, when I left here without filing some forms, which I never knew about. We need her bc to prove she's a US citicen, but the one she has provides her adoptive parents and not me as her bios. I still have her original bc! Any ideas on this?
Dani

[Daruma]

Dani, sorry if I'm being dense, but what's the problem proving her citizenship? If you have her original BC, and she has the amended one, why isn't one of them sufficient?

(For what it's worth, it's the normal practice here in the US to issue an adopted child a new BC with the adopters listed as parents. This is something that adoptee rights advocates have been fighting for years. You may find additional resources on this topic at this site, http://www.firstmotherforum.com/.)

Oh, and I think it's awesome you were finally reunited after so long apart!

[Eljay]

Were you not a US citizen prior to this? Your other two daughters.... were they born in the US and where are they now?

[Dani2012]

Hi Daruma, I'm not exactly sure either, but she's a little afraid that she'll brake the law or something if I send in a copy of her origninal bc, rather than the ammended one, but we need to show that she's my daughter AND a citicen of the US to be able to sponsor me to be a registered resident.......it's all a bit confusing, cause I had residendship in 1973 through my stepdad. Never had any probs going to school ,then working and paying taxes , even had/have a SSN.


@ Eljay: Like I said above: I got a then called 'alien registration card' without expiration date. All of my girls were born here and are citicens of the US. The two younger ones still live in Germany

[Dani2012]

.....this is bringing all the pain up again, so sorry if I tend to jump back and forth at times; I also suffer from fibromyalgia and have problems concentrating at times :-/

I just remembered, that I NEVER heard from CPS again, after this case was closed. Nobody came by to check out the other girls, even thoug htheir dad had once been accused of sexually abusing their step-sister (?????????) Just always seemed odd to me!

[flcps2011]

Dani, I am so happy you were reunited with your daughter. And I completely understand the problems concentrating I have the same issue due to thyroid problems!

[Daruma]

Hi Daruma, I'm not exactly sure either, but she's a little afraid that she'll brake the law or something if I send in a copy of her origninal bc, rather than the ammended one, but we need to show that she's my daughter AND a citicen of the US to be able to sponsor me to be a registered resident......

No, you wouldn't be doing anything illegal. The original BC might not be sufficient, by itself, but you wouldn't be breaking the law if you submitted it.

Has either of you talked to INS about this to find out exactly what paperwork you need?

And what county are you in, if you don't mind saying? Was this the same county she was adopted in?

[Daruma]

Re: overturning the adoption.

You didn't say that overturning the adoption was your goal, but in case it may help you with the immigration thing, here's some information. I'm not an attorney so I can't say whether this is feasible, all these years later. It appears that your daughter might be able to petition the court to overturn her adoption. It's not clear whether this option is only available to minors, or whether an adult adoptee could also pursue it:

http://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/?fa=forms.contribute&formID=15

Go to this link. download & save the file named "Petition for Reinstatement of Terminated Parental Rights".

No guarantees this will work for you. It's a lead for you to follow and evaluate for yourself, perhaps with the aid of an attorney. At the very least, if you can't afford an attorney (as most of us here can't) you could just go to your county courthouse and ask the court clerk for help filing. The website also says, "Your county may also have a courthouse facilitator who cannot provide legal advice, but who can offer limited assistance in completing necessary paperwork."

(Edited several times as I've found new information.)

[Dani2012]

I want to thank you all so so much for giving me all these valuable tipps!!!!!! It's so good to have found some people, even after all these years, who are trying to help.

I still have very bad feelings about the whole happening, feel I didn't fight enaugh back then, and...and...and. Only thing I can say to my defence, that I had absolutely NO family help, felt left alone and had to support my other two girls, since their dad turned out to be a lazy person. I worked 7 days a week just to make ends meet and not have to live off of welfare and maybe get back into the files. When I found out that he (my husband) had been lying to me for years and was into drugs besides not working, I wanted to give it a go on my own. When I told him I wanted a divorce, he said he'd take the girls and I'd never see them again. Fearful as I was already due to the actions with D., I got frantic trying to save and protect my girls and saw the only chance in going back overseas, til they were old enaugh. I brought them up all by myself, worked my butt of and even went back to college to get a degree at the age of 40. Again I went to school during the week, worked on the weekends and tended to two extremely stubborn teenage girls all at the same time *smile*. It was hard work, but it was worth it.
All this time I knew I was going 'home' again some day and never once doubted being able to come back. After all, my alien registration card had no expiration date and I had family here. Come to find out, when I finally got the money together to afford a flight, I am legally no longer a resident; that's why D. has to sponsor me.

*phew*....thanks for letting me vent ......have a great sunday, Dani

[Daruma]

I still have very bad feelings about the whole happening, feel I didn't fight enaugh back then, and...and...and. Only thing I can say to my defence, that I had absolutely NO family help, felt left alone and had to support my other two girls, since their dad turned out to be a lazy person.

Back then, there really wasn't much support. Victims had no way of finding each other, helping each other, or doing the necessary research. The Internet is CPS's worst enemy.

[Dani2012]

Yeah......I thought about that too. Too bad it's taken so very long for some parents to get it all out into the open!