I was preparing a post today about our court date this morning and how after 9:45 am we would officially be a forever family according to the legal system.
Then I received a call from our American lawyer's office.
It seems as though there were some hiccups. First of all, we now have a different judge. For some reason the judge's go back and forth between residing over civil and criminal cases. Our original judge was assigned to oversee criminal cases which means a new judge took his civil files. This new judge was not pleased that we weren't present for the hearing. We went to court with T six months ago when the petition was initially filed and the judge agreed that since he had met us he was okay with our lawyer standing in as our proxy for the finalization hearing. This is often done in this State. It appears as if our new judge wasn't happy about this ruling and then proceeded to poke his nose in our paperwork.
The end result is that this judge wants more information to prove that our adoption of T was pre-Hague and also needs our total Canadian adoption fee breakdown. So now we scramble to get that information and locate a notary public. And then pay through the nose to send the documents to the US so they get there yesterday.
Nothing with regards to T obtaining permanent residency, Canadian citizenship, and most importantly getting him on our provincial health card can happen until the judge signs the adoption decree. I really thought that after today this part of our adoption journey would be over. That we could move on. I should have known better.
The finalization process is sort of anti-climactic to begin with since we've had custody of T this whole time. But I thank the legal system for dragging this last step in the mud and making it even more anti-climactic. Now our lawyer just drops off the documents and we won't know the day or time that the judge signs the decree ahead of time. I don't know why, but nothing related to our adoption process has been easy and at every turn there is new drama to share.
We planned a party with our families to celebrate our "forever family." Thank goodness it didn't work to plan it this weekend. I really hope that everything will be completed before the party date, seems silly to celebrate something that hasn't happened. But with our luck, the postal service will go on strike.
4 comments:
Ahhh, hurdles suck. Praying that the judge will be satisfied and sign the papers...quickly so you can get on with your Forever Family (and the party)
grrrr. Sorry this taking so long. I'll be praying that things now move along quickly.
Ugh! What an unnecessary mess to deal with. Hope the judge gets his act together so it can all be finished.
oh wow, what drama. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. hopefully it's cleared up soon and you can celebrate your forever family!
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