Posts tagged ‘adoption lawyer’
January 21 – Court Date Scheduled | Mae’s Adoption Journey
A whole work week had gone by. On Monday, we thought we’d be in court by Friday. Friday morning had arrived and we still didn’t know if we had court that day. We were ready to leave at any second in case lawyer Mike could get us in front of a judge ASAP.
An email finally came through from the adoption agency that morning letting us know about a small ‘hangup’ in the process. My stomach dropped. Ut oh- birth mom change her mind? Birth father appeared out of nowhere? Something was wrong with the baby?
Luckily – just a few meetings had been postponed and so court wouldn’t be happening in just a few hours. I exhaled and was relieved – this I could handle.
Setting the Court Date
I notified Mike who was on standby at work that we wouldn’t be in court before the weekend. We’d held off making any plans with the hope that we’d have a little girl living with us. Luckily, our lawyer called quickly to give us the details on our court date and what to plan on.
We’d been assigned a judge. The judge happened to be out-of-town the following week. And he couldn’t get our case transferred – so we had to wait. So now our court date was set for a little over a week away – January 31st.
We knew of several friends who’d adopted internationally so I quickly had my disappointment put into perspective. Waiting another week – since only two weeks had gone by since we’d begun this process – was nothing. Plus, we could visit the baby as much as we wanted – she just couldn’t come live with us yet. So we put our chins up and decided that this was probably a good thing – we’d have another week to get ready for baby.
January 20 – Meeting Lawyer Mike | Mae’s Adoption Journey
In the midst of long days of waiting, we had a crazy bout of snow & ice. School was cancelled every other day. Mike certainly didn’t mind. So on a snowy morning we headed over to see our baby once again. She was still staying with the neighbor, but between drop-by visits and calls, the neighbor seemed like an old-time friend.
We headed out to see our gorgeous girl and on the way received a long-awaited phone call from our lawyer. This was the first time we’d spoken and he wanted us at his office that afternoon. He had papers ready and was still going to try to get us in court the next day.
So, our long visit to the baby was cut short as we gave her a few hugs and kisses and then headed for downtown Kansas City.
Meeting With Our Adoption Attorney
I’d never met with an attorney before so I had no idea to expect. The tall building and long elevator ride seemed right but as soon as our lawyer Mike greeted us from his waiting room, my perspective shifted from there. He was funny and told jokes. He told us stories about his kids and laughed a lot. It was refreshing – it made the process even so much more … fun. Even the legal side of it. Mike walked us through each paper and the process that awaited us. He’d go file a petition and wait to hear of our date. Then for six months we’d have temporary custody. He’d need to place a few notices and check a paternity registry since the birth father had never been in the picture. (although he was sure he wouldn’t be resurfacing, it was protocol.) And then after court, we’d head home with the baby, meet with our social worker for six months and then return to court to make it final later in the year. That seemed simple enough.
One of our First “Just the Two Of Us” Meals
We were beaming once again after leaving the lawyer’s office. The ball was rolling. It’s amazing how much hope and excitement flooded back in after a long week of waiting. We headed down to Power & Light for a nice dinner. As far as we knew, this could be the last night it would be just the two of us…. forever. So, we ordered a few drinks and had a great meal. We couldn’t wait to hear if we’d be in court the next morning.
Semicolon Stories 