My sixteen year old brother spent six weeks in a state shelter. And if it were up to my mom, he would have spent another five weeks in a state shelter, until the next court hearing. When CPS and my mom attended the removal/placement hearing near the end of June, my mom agreed that my brother could be placed with me, while she did whatever it was CPS wants her to do in order to get him back. This morning, apparently after reading this blog entry and getting her panties in a twist, my mother decided that it would be worth forcing my brother to endure another month or more of misery and unhappiness and bullying and isolation at the shelter in order to get back at me for having the nerve to blog about what is nothing other than the truth about her. She’s ranting and raving to whoever will listen, apparently, that she does not want my brother to be placed with me, she’s going to appeal it, blah blah blah.
Luckily, CPS is on the ball with everything, and much smarter than she is. With the exception of obtaining the judge’s signature taking longer than expected today, everything went smoothly, and the placement was granted. At 5:00pm I got the call letting me know that I could go pick up my brother. 
Tonight was a pizza-for-dinner kind of night, seeing as how I drove an hour up and then an hour back (I’m so glad I won’t have to do that anymore!). Right now I’m adding a few more apps to the iPad we’re giving Ryan for his birthday (my baby boy turns FIVE tomorrow!!!), and then I’m headed to bed. I have a lot to do tomorrow, including an optometrist appointment, a meeting with the CPS caseworker, and of course celebrating Ryan’s birthday. We’re having a small dinner and cake here tomorrow night, and that’s about it — the real fun is being saved for next Sunday, when we’ll be having Ryan’s birthday party!
I’m so glad that CPS was able to see through your mom’s craziness because he didn’t need to be in a shelter for so long. I’m glad he’s home with you though and hopefully it’s a much better situation for him.