Last Saturday was a custody hearing for my friend's daughter. Short backstory: daughter (B) has mental issues, stole her mom's car, ended up in juvie, then foster care. Friend (S) has been trying to get kid back. Friend's sister (M) wants to take custody of B and mover her to Las Vegas.
The hearing lasted 3+ hrs. Thank goodness they bought pizza. The parole officer apologized to S and said that B completely hoodwinked him. He said he screwed up and B should have never been taken from the home. Yeah, the guy screwed up, but it took some cajones to admit it in such a roomful of people.
The case worker and the foster parents all said this was one of the hardest cases they've ever seen. The foster parents have raised their own 4 kids and fostered a good 25 teens. They said B is the worst and S has done more than most parents, especially single ones, could have.
Sister M thinks B is perfectly fine and "kids will be kids." She doesn't believe B has any mental issue (despite multiple doctor's diagnosis). At one point M told the story of B claiming to have snorted 5 pills. M didn't tell anyone about this at the time. Foster mom almost came across the table at M. Foster mom was all "What if I'd had to call you back and tell you that child was dead?!?" M just shrugged.
Then M got all huffy told everyone that the plan to reunite with mom was a load of crap and either B is going to run, end up locked up, or dead. M was fine with any of those. Needless to say, M is not getting custody of B.
The meeting eventually wrapped with a plan to start reunited S and B and getting them counseling separately and together.