Thanks so much for all your support in this thread. You guys have no idea what this insight means to me. I've never been offered any monetary support and in NC they cut out monies for kinship transfer of custody. He gets Medicaid, that's it. I'm trying to get daycare assistance but I've been instructed that if I go through with it, DSS will pursue child support on the bio parents which will have them retaliating with me. I want to believe that there are some good foster care families out there. I think there would be some funds if I went through with the adoption, I'm just not sure where I'm at right now with what direction I'm going in. I'm glad to hear that I need to imagine the difficulties that come with a 15 year old, if I'm fretting over 2 right now! I just have to rip the band-aid off. CPS has threatened that I'll have a negative hit on my name from having him removed from my home and it could affect if I ever wanted to work with children or if I ever needed to take custody of another child...but I'm trying to not pay that any attention because I never want to go this route again. I love this baby to pieces. He's my heart. I simply want what's best for us both. You've all given me so much to think about. The family law attorneys I've seen after 3 consultations only promise that for a few thousand dollars they can pursue adoption, all at my expense. He's technically not a ward of the state because the court placed him in my custody to make decisions. That basically put all the burden on me to care for him with no help and to deal with the bio parents on my own and let DSS off the hook...one less case in their load. I feel better though. Thank goodness for this forum.
