We met with 4 different social workers today (everyone has a different task in what goes on), and here's the latest:
1) The 14 day period that the birth mom has to reclaim the baby expires tomorrow (Friday) night at midnight -- yeah!!! She turned her over the day she was born (Saturday), and the clock counts the first calendar day as day 1. It was nice to get some clarification of those facts, even nicer that they all worked towards the earliest day possible!
2) We are going forward with a "goodbye" meeting with the birth mom next Wednesday. It will be a short (15-30 minute) meeting, and I'm supposed to wait in the cafeteria during the time. One of the social workers who I met today will be the one in charge of Amanda, and she'll have an assistant with her for help to make sure there's no funny business. Additionally, the meeting is scheduled for when the sheriffs are on duty at the social services offices. Paul joked that the social worker's assistant is the "bouncer." A friend of mine is coming along to keep me company, which will be great, but really I am feeling fine about all of this. The birth mom has requested that she have a picture taken of her and the baby, and I've added a request that I also can provide a camera for a similar photo. They'll also ask the birth mom if she would voluntarily supply any non-identifying information about the birth father. I think it would be especially nice to know his ethnic background, and hope she wants to provide it. But, this is a really unusual situation since Amanda was a Safe Surrender baby, and the bm doesn't have to do anything if she doesn't want to. They are also going to ask her if she would like to give us her address if she wants any future correspondence, and then we can decide how we want to proceed from there.
3) The birthmom reported that she didn't drink, use drugs, or smoke during the pregnancy. We were pretty confident that there wasn't drug exposure, but it made me cry (again!), to know that she took good care of herself.
That's about it, I think. So, our ticking clock is coming to an end, and no one expects anything dramatic to happen.
The next legal steps will still take about 3 months -- to terminate parental rights, then there is some more waiting until they can finalize the adoption. But things are looking really good (knock on wood), so we're starting to relax!
Thanks to everyone for their prayers and positive thoughts -- we really feel them, and they have really helped!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi Melissa & Paul,
I'm happy for you that the 14 day period has ended without any mishaps.
I can't even begin to imagine the scope and depth of your feelings about this upcoming 'goodbye' meeting with the birth mom. Your minds must be whirling with all the pros and cons, then conflicts with trying to do the right thing by everyone involved but then again, having that undeniable and understandable selfishness and possessiveness that Amanda is yours now and you don't want to look back.
We hope it all goes well, and that the young lady will be brave and positive thinking she's given the greatest gift any one person can do: the gift of life, and a to a family that really, really wants her.
Go with God! love, Kathleen
Post a Comment