Aggravated Circumstances by Michele Shriver

Author:Michele Shriver [Shriver, Michele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women's fiction, family saga
Publisher: SMC Publishing
Published: 2013-03-23T05:00:00+00:00

***

Elisa reviewed Riley’s research for the third time, hoping for something she might have missed. It revealed exactly what she had expected it to, and what Riley had warned her of. Nothing helpful.

It wasn’t that Riley wasn’t thorough; she knew that he was. There simply wasn’t a lot out there that she could use to her benefit.

There were cases about parents who participated in MMT, but they were cases that ended up at termination of parental rights. Exactly what Elisa hoped to avoid.

Still, those were cases in which, in spite of the MMT, the parents never seemed to get it figured out. They still used drugs and they didn’t participate in other reunification efforts. Even worse, they still kept blaming the system for taking their kid away instead of being receptive to help. Either that or they skipped court hearings, one sure way to convince a judge that they didn’t really care.

But what about cases in which the parent did get it, the treatment seemed to be working and they appeared genuinely interested in changing?

If Elisa was jaded, she’d say there was no such case. This one would end up like the others. It was only a matter of time before Devin slipped. Heck, maybe she already had. There was the alcohol thing from a few weeks ago. Still, that seemed like a mere blip on the screen amidst otherwise glowing reports. Her supervised visits went so well the summaries were almost boring to read.

Elisa wanted this case to be different, not doomed before it barely got started.

She picked up the phone and punched in the all-too familiar number.

“This is Taylor.”

“Hi, Taylor. Elisa Cahill. How are you?” Aside from having to talk to me, that is?

“Oh, you know, just another day in paradise.” The social worker laughed dryly. “What can I do for you? I assume this is about the Lenox hearing on Thursday.”

“Yeah. What are your thoughts? The reports look great.”

“They do, yes,” Taylor acknowledged. “We’ll be asking for a finding of true on the abuse and neglect petition, which you know we’ll get. Continue foster care placement pending disposition. I’m not opposed to expanding the order to allow for increased visitation, as I expect you’ll ask for.”

“Absolutely. And we’ll get it.” Elisa was as confident of that as Taylor was of the true finding. It would probably be a pretty straight-forward hearing, unless� “That’s it? You’re not planning any surprises?”

“Only what color blouse I wear with my traditional black court suit. Or are you calling so we can try to coordinate?”

Elisa knew Taylor was trying to be funny, but didn’t laugh. “I think you know what I mean.”

“I do, yes.” An audible sigh came across the line, and Taylor’s next words were clipped. “No surprises, Elisa. Contrary to your long-held and misguided belief, ambush isn’t really my modus operandi.”

“Really?” Elisa scoffed. “You could have fooled me.”

“Once, and it wasn’t deliberate. Besides, given the tragic turn that case took, I would think you’d acknowledge I was right.”

The words hit Elisa like a ton of bricks, even three years later.

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