Today was the first of two termination hearings. Today's hearing was for the county to present evidence for termination of rights and for the lawyers to have the chance to object to any findings. It was not going to terminate their rights; merely give the lawyers the chance to object and the county to do whatever they needed to in order to minimize objections. (Typically, this means subpeoning people whose testimony would be heresay if not in person.)
There was good news and bad news. Bad news: Legally, both parents were to be notified of the termination hearing and needed to submit an affidavit saying they were made aware. The county had attempted to notify the birth dad with no response, so notification of the hearing was posted in the local newspaper. Without the signed affidavits, they would not be given attorneys for the hearing. They both appeared for the hearing. Birth mom had signed and her lawyer was present. Birth dad was served, but never signed because he received his in the mail. He brought it with him and said he did not know how to fill it out. The caseworker helped him to fill it out and enter it into the court record. This means he will now have a lawyer present at the hearing and since his lawyer was not available today, the hearing has now been postponed until December 14. Good news: The caseworker spoke to birth mom's lawyer and birth mom this morning. It seems birth mom is on the fence and considering terminating her own rights. One aspect she is curious about is what contact she would be allowed to have after adoption. The caseworker reminded birth mom of the things we have done so far (making a book of photos for Christmas, communicating in a log book, sharing photos before visits, etc) and birth mom said "yeah, I really like Rachel." Birth mom's lawyer opinion: this next month will help birth mom think through her options a little more clearly. Caseworker's opinion: birth dad will follow suit with whatever birth mom does. What now? The caseworker gave us some ideas of how to safely keep in contact with birth parents and maintain privacy. She will be coming out for her monthly visit in two weeks and we will discuss it more then and give her an idea of what we are thinking so she can take something back to birth mom's lawyer. We would love for you to pray:
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