Foster Parent Court Reports: How to Make Your Voice Heard in Indiana

By: Grant Kirsh

Foster parents often feel like the least heard people in the courtroom, despite being the ones who know the child best. You are the one at the 3 a.m. fevers, the therapy appointments, the parent-teacher conferences. Yet foster parents do not typically intervene in CHINS or TPR cases, so how does your knowledge reach the judge?

The answer is the foster parent court report. After nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions across Indiana, in Marion, Lake, Allen, Hamilton, Tippecanoe, St. Joseph, Hendricks, Elkhart, Johnson, Delaware, Vanderburgh, Porter, Madison, Vigo, Monroe, and every other county, I can tell you that a well-written foster parent report is one of the most powerful tools you have. Here is how to use it.

What a Foster Parent Court Report Is

It is a written report you submit for the court’s review at hearings in your foster child’s case. It is your opportunity to tell the judge, in your own words, how the child is doing in your home. Judges read these. A thoughtful report from the person living with the child every day carries real weight, alongside the reports of the family case manager, the CASA, and the GAL.

What to Include

Lead with facts, not arguments. Judges trust observation over opinion. Describe the child’s daily life: school progress, grades, attendance, and teacher feedback. Medical and therapeutic care: appointments kept, milestones reached, needs being addressed. Development and behavior: what has improved, what is still hard, and how the child is coping. The child’s bonds: with you, with your other children, with their siblings, and their own words about your home if they are old enough to share them. Visits: how the child does before and after visits with biological family, described factually and without editorializing.

Concrete beats general every time. “He has gone from failing reading to a B, and reads to our dog every night” tells a judge more than “he is doing great.”

What to Leave Out

Keep the tone respectful and child-focused. Do not attack the biological parents, the case manager, or anyone else. Do not speculate about things you did not witness. A report that reads like advocacy for yourself gets discounted. A report that reads like careful observation of a child gets relied upon.

When You Disagree With the CASA or GAL

Sometimes the CASA or GAL recommends something you believe is wrong for the child, such as a move to a late-appearing relative. Your court report is the proper place to put your observations in front of the judge. The CASA and GAL are influential, but the judge decides, and judges weigh the detailed, factual record of the person raising the child daily. This is also a moment to have an attorney reviewing what you submit and how it fits the larger legal picture, including the 12-month placement protection if your adoption petition is on file.

Consistency Builds Credibility

File a report for every hearing, not just the ones where something is at stake. A judge who has read four calm, factual, loving reports from you over 18 months knows exactly who you are by the time the big questions get decided.

If you are heading toward adopting your foster child anywhere in Indiana, we would be glad to help you make sure your voice is heard at every step.

Call us at 317-575-5555. Visit us at DCSAdoptions.com.

For the full journey, read our guide: From Foster Parent to Adoptive Parent in Indiana.

About the Author
Grant Kirsh is a second-generation adoption attorney and owner of Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., a family law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana that has been serving Indiana families since 1981. Grant graduated from Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2013 and has personally handled nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions and his law firm has handled over 5,000 private newborn adoptions. He practices all forms of domestic adoption, with a deep personal commitment to expectant mothers considering adoption in Indiana and Indiana’s foster care system and the families and children it serves.