I thought I'd bring
you up to speed on what's happening. I know I've kept the blog
updated but there are some things I'm not putting online in order to
protect Grant Jaden if he does end up coming home with us.
We went to meet with Bethany last
night. We found out that unless Grant Jaden's birth father J just has a
come to Jesus moment and signs the papers to terminate his parental
rights, we're going to have to go to court. Even if his aunt turns
out to be an unfit guardian. The big issue here if we choose to go to
court will be that Grant Jaden will have to live with us. We wouldn't be
the first people to have, basically, a foster child in the home with
older children but you know it would be tough if he was taken away
after 6 months or a year.
If we choose to go to court, the
primary grounds for termination will be wanton disregard for the
welfare of a child. There are some other grounds they
will add to the case like abandonment and some other harder to prove
issues but the wanton disregard is pretty huge. The attorney says he
doesn't get grounds that good very often and puts our chances at
better than 75%. The staff at Bethany thinks it's even better than
that but, of course, all of this is subject to the interpretation of
the judge we get. Also, according to a number of professionals and
parents who have been through this, many times the fathers either
don't file the proper paperwork or don't show up to court.
One concern that has come up a few
times is whether or not J would try to hurt us if we succeed in
taking Grant Jaden. I asked our friend about that. She said in her
years of practice as an adoption attorney, she has never experienced
that nor heard of it happening. Of course, we all know anything can
happen but she suggests not making this decision based on fear but
on what the Spirit leads us to do. She also says that the $15-20k in
lawyer fees that Bethany's lawyer gave us as a worst case scenario is extremely rare and only happens in cases like the Anna
Mae He case that some of you will remember from a couple of years ago
in Bartlett.
We are planning to spend some time in
prayer before making any decisions—we have a few days so we'll take
advantage of them. We are also going to start researching attorneys
to get a neutral opinion. In the meantime, please feel free to ask
questions. I'll keep the blog updated with general information and
we'll do the same on facebook. Thank you so much for everything these
last few weeks!
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