Adoption Chronicle
Due to privacy concerns this blog series will not publish until the adoption is final. Names have been shortened to protect the privacy of my family.
March 5th 2014
Wen and I married on September 06, 2013. Wen got a loving and devoted wife and a mother for his 11 year old daughter. I got a loving and devoted husband and a bright and creative daughter, a ready-made family. Before Wen and I were even married Anna was calling me mom. It was like we'd been a family already for a long time. Some health scares from Wen early on in our marriage caused us to start talking about what would happen to Anna if anything bad happened to Wen. We finally decided, much to the excitement of Anna, that I should adopt her for her protection should anything happen to her father.
On February 18th we got a consultation from an adoption attorney. This wouldn't be a completely straightforward step parent adoption because Anna's birth mother was still living, though we didn't know her whereabouts or stability. Anna's last memory of her birth mother was from when she was two years old, and it was a traumatic memory. The birth mother had had court orders against her being in the presence of any of her under age children until she fulfilled court required sanctions, which she still had not done. Our lawyer was confident the adoption would be successful even if the birth mother could be located and even if she decided to contest the adoption in court. Going to court would cost us more money, but she was confident the court would rule in our favor.
The first thing we had to do was raise the money for a retainer fee. It cost us $1800 to get started. We had just gotten our tax refund and decided that was the best use of it. We also got some help from some family. On February 27th we got the retainer fee to the lawyer. She was out of the office at the time but called me on Saturday, March 1st and then e-mailed me a form to collect all the information. That got turned in on Tuesday March 4th. The first order of business was to place an ad in the newspaper for 4 weeks. So we are just waiting for the lawyer to get that done at this point. I am excited and anxious about this process. The waiting will be hard but the result will be worth it.
April 14th 2014
After submitting all the paperwork in March we had to wait 2 weeks for the court to approve us serving the birth mother by newspaper publication. This was unusual according to our lawyer but apparently due to some moving with one of the offices at the court. Today the publication appears in the newspaper and will be there for 4 weeks. So we wait.
May 12 2014
We are in the final stretch for completing the adoption and expect it to be done next week sometime. The birth mother's last chance to contest in court was May 3rd and she did not file anything with the court so we have moved on. Early last week we got the affidavit of publication, got the default motion and now we are just waiting for DHS to waive the home study and then for judgement which should happen this week or next. We are about ready to go public with our happy news, which we will as soon as it's all final.
I am really excited for the timing of this because it happens so close to Anna's birthday. Her birthday is on Saturday May 31st and my hope is that we will have the new birth certificate by then (may not happen that fast though).
June 11, 2014
Unfortunately the Adoption was not final before Anna's birthday and we were not able to go public with our happy news till today. While she had a great turnout for her birthday party, sadly it was not an adoption party as we weren't able to celebrate yet. Today, however, it was final. The judge signed the documents and Anna became my daughter. The new birth certificate will take a little longer to arrive.
August 28th, 2014
The birth certificate finally arrived in the mail. So special to see my name on my daughters birth certificate. Her hyphenated last name has finally been corrected and we all have the same last name now. One happy family. My mom threw us an adoption party on August 2nd and it was such a blessing to be surrounded by people who love and support us. When all was said and done it had cost us $2200. Though it was a long process it was definitely worth it.
April 14th 2014
After submitting all the paperwork in March we had to wait 2 weeks for the court to approve us serving the birth mother by newspaper publication. This was unusual according to our lawyer but apparently due to some moving with one of the offices at the court. Today the publication appears in the newspaper and will be there for 4 weeks. So we wait.
May 12 2014
We are in the final stretch for completing the adoption and expect it to be done next week sometime. The birth mother's last chance to contest in court was May 3rd and she did not file anything with the court so we have moved on. Early last week we got the affidavit of publication, got the default motion and now we are just waiting for DHS to waive the home study and then for judgement which should happen this week or next. We are about ready to go public with our happy news, which we will as soon as it's all final.
I am really excited for the timing of this because it happens so close to Anna's birthday. Her birthday is on Saturday May 31st and my hope is that we will have the new birth certificate by then (may not happen that fast though).
June 11, 2014
Unfortunately the Adoption was not final before Anna's birthday and we were not able to go public with our happy news till today. While she had a great turnout for her birthday party, sadly it was not an adoption party as we weren't able to celebrate yet. Today, however, it was final. The judge signed the documents and Anna became my daughter. The new birth certificate will take a little longer to arrive.
August 28th, 2014
The birth certificate finally arrived in the mail. So special to see my name on my daughters birth certificate. Her hyphenated last name has finally been corrected and we all have the same last name now. One happy family. My mom threw us an adoption party on August 2nd and it was such a blessing to be surrounded by people who love and support us. When all was said and done it had cost us $2200. Though it was a long process it was definitely worth it.
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