After our DSS appeal was denied, we began 3 months of no progress on either our DSS case or the legal case against me. There was literally no progress on either for the whole summer. DSS was stalling waiting on a resolution to the our legal case and my legal case was being held out while the entire small town DAs office was engaged in a major murder trial. We were left in limbo.
I continued to live at my parents home. I worked during the day and would head home immediately after work to spend time with my family. We tried to keep our day as normal as possible for our kids. I would come home in time for dinner like I would have before all of this mess. I’d would help my wife get them ready for bed and then leave around 8:00pm or so to return to my parent’s house. We did start something then that we continue to do at dinner each night. In order to help my kids focus on the postives in their lives, we would go around the table each night during dinner and each of us would talk about the best part of their day. You weren’t allowed to discuss anything bad, only something good. My kids continue this tradition today and have even said they plan to do it with their children some day. A silver lining in a very dark cloud I think.
Some progress!
In May, we met with our DSS worker who surprised us with some news. As a result of a state investigation into our counties DSS office, the director for DSS was replaced and all open cases were being reviewed. Her manage reviewed my case again and decided to give me 6 hours at home per day instead of 3. HUGE, HUGE win for us. Given we were in limbo and not wondering what the next day would hold, this was a huge positive gain for us. This would allow me to spend from 5:00 – 11 with my family each night. Of course it was taxing on me, as I wouldn’t get back to my Dad’s until midnight and then get back up in the morning at 5:00am, but it was worth it. The extra time gave my wife and I some quality time together which was very much needed.
Waiting
The rest of the time was spent waiting and speculating about what future days and months might hold. We continued to touch base with my attorney. He was waiting for the DAs office to reply to his requst to meet with them. He continued to work with the DSS attorney as well to get our case dismissed and/or get me back home permanently. He engaged another attorney that specialized in DSS cases. It cost me about $4000 more, but we hoped it would help resolve the DSS case and get me back home. $4000 was well worth the money to get home so I could help begin healing my family and return our lives to something at least close to normal. Or at least we hoped that is what would happen.
