ADOPTION NEWS
Last Tuesday, we went to court…again. All the paperwork had been signed and sent to the DA for the State. The birthmom was voluntarily relinquishing her parental rights.
When I show up for court, something was amiss. There was NO parking. I walk into the courtroom 10 minutes early. It was PACKED. There was a man up front in his prison garb and a different judge was on the bench.
The baby’sCASAworker walked by. I asked her if this was the right place. “Yes” was her reply. I scanned the courtroom. Our attorney wasn’t there yet so I went outside to wait for him. A minute later, he walked up and as he opened the door to the courtroom stated, “Oh, I forgot that Judge J was going to be here today.”
Our case was second on the docket. And here’s where I became bold. Our attorney was talking to another attorney when the case was called and obviously didn’t hear that. I snapped my fingers at him to get his attention. He was quite taken aback that I had snapped at him, but admitted he didn’t hear.
The State took the stand and testified on how Lil Bit was doing in his current placement with us. Lil Bit’s caseworker was not there and so it was her supervisor on the stand. She stated some things that weren’t true saying that Lil Bit had been placed with us from the hospital and that he had been evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) since he wasn’t walking at 13 months of age.
She then testified, “Adoption is the current plan.” NO mention of the relinquishment paperwork! The next court date would be in December.
Here’s where paying an attorney $200 an hour can pay off. He clarified that Lil Bit had not been placed with us from the hospital, but upon removal. “Judge, we have relinquishment papers that have been signed by all the parties and would like to seek termination of parental rights.”
The DA then stated, “I haven’t seen them.” Ah, the efficiency of government….
Now, we go back to court tomorrow. However, I have an important business meeting out of town tomorrow so my hubby, Steve, is going to have to show up if…..
RUNNING
That is how the bowels have been going in our home. When I picked up Lil Bit from day care Friday, his caregiver stated that his last movement had been runny. Yew!
Three out of four family members had to deal with that this weekend. Poor Lil Bit has been on a rice cereal, bananas, apple juice and Pedialyte diet all weekend. Last night, he made a disgusting sound as he was crawling across the floor. It was if a sound effects engineer from Hollywood had created that disgusting sound.
So if he’s not better today, yet another trip to the doctor. And possibly Steve staying home with Lil Bit tomorrow and only our attorney going to court…
Did we give Lil Bit the right diet? Do you know of any remedies for a 1-year-old?
AVERSION TO PINK
Last week, we received a call about a 5-year-old boy that needed a permanent family. He was originally placed with a family member that wasn’t going to pass their home study. He would need a foster family willing to adopt.
With 2 boys already, especially with Stinkpot’s defiant streak and possible hyperactivity, we wanted to be cautious with what would be our final adoptive placement.
I requested to see any paperwork on the child before making a decision. That was over a week ago. Still no word…
Is pink just not in our future???
