Court today for Ryan

Today was my first court appearance since having Ryan removed. It went pretty well. I asked for the Petition to be changed to a CHINS 6. CHINS - Child in need of Services. Subsection 6 is that the child is a danger to himself or OTHERS.  That got denied.
 
Child Protection Services had originally said there were to be three counts against me - Child Abandonment, Neglect of a Child and Failure to Supervise.  Nice.  They said the Failure to Supervise was because the latest incident happened when I was taking Sophie to the doctor.

The actual petition filed with the court only had one count - Abandonment.  Their stance is that  I abandoned Ryan because I refuse to allow him to remain in the home, demonstrating "an inability, refusal or neglect to supply the child with necessary shelter, which seriously endangers the child's physical condition."  Never mind that HE was endangering many children's physical and mental condition.
 
I found out things reading thea actual petition that I had no idea about, that he had told the caseworker he had done.  It very strongly reaffirmed that I made the right decision.

I admitted to the petition as far as - "I agree Ryan is a CHINS case, but I do not admit that it is my neglect that caused it." I pointed out the safety plan the Department issued for us several years ago was being followed, the fact that the therapists, counselors and our pastor have encouraged us to put trust in Ryan's ability to change and to give him the opportunity to demonstrate that.
 
My next court date is February 14th.  That is the 10 year anniversary of the day I adopted him.