Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Perhaps someone else will have some better advice for you, but the problem I see here is that as foster parents, I don't believe that you actually have legal standing to do much of anything in this case. This is obviously an oversimplification, but basically, the way the foster care system is set up for involuntary removal cases, it's like CPS, as conservator, becomes legally another parent for the child, and you are effectively just the babysitters until such time as the court decides whether the biological parents' rights should be terminated or not. Legally, that issue must first be resolved before there can be any question of adoption. The most time allowed to have the child removed from the home and the case pending is 18 months. At that point, the court must either return the child to the parents or proceed to terminate parental rights, based not on whether you would be good parents, but on consideration of the factors in the statute that addresses grounds for termination. About all I think you can do at this point is make it very clear to everyone that you do want to adopt the child--while that may not be a factor the judge can officially consider, the availability of a better alternative can't help but stay in the back of the judge's mind when the decision is made whether to terminate. If it makes you feel any better, it's to your advantage that they're taking a cautious approach--parental termination is often appealed, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to think the adoption was a sure thing and then find out that the termination had been overturned on appeal because it wasn't handled appropriately. Good luck.