Court
It is always so nerve wracking for me to go to court. Even when we have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen it still fills me with anxiety. When we have no idea what will happen I could just throw up in the court room! I think it would make anybody nervous to go to court, but in our situation so much is at stake. It also forces us to come face to face with some very awkward situations. We have to converse and visit with the bio parents of our kids, we have to be nice and social and talk about our son with them and listen to the fact that they believe he is only their son and we are simply the babysitters.... We know that this is a defense mechanism, however it is very hard to listen to someone tell you about your child knowing that they are incorrect about his behaviors and actions and have to smile and nod like they know exactly what they are talking about. We have to face attorneys who, we believe, are fighting for the wrong things, we have to face a state's attorney who may or may not be fighting for our child and hear testimony of how our child's life hangs in the balance. Needless to say, it was an Ativan kind of day! We were proud of ourselves though, we did well.
Today's court date went pretty much how we expected it to, but there was an interesting turn at the end. Over all the case was pretty much continued and not much changed. However I am more sure now then I have ever been that we have a wonderful, honest, hard working, compassionate judge overseeing our case. I can't tell you how many times I have prayed that our judge wouldn't be able to sleep during the week leading up to our case, or how many times I have prayed that he would be woken up in the middle of the night thinking about our son and his case. Apparently it has worked. (Sorry Judge Cornelius!) He granted us the right to speak in court today and made several comments after the fact indicating that he had been thinking about Tony and I and wanted to hear our thoughts and have our perspective represented. This was very encouraging news.
While today's hearing didn't create any resolutions with our case it did allow us some more insight on what the judge is feeling about the direction of this case. It also allowed us to see that things can change so quickly over the life of a case. We are very hopeful now that things will start turning in the right direction. It feels so amazingly good to have a lawyer on our side who is looking out solely for the benefit of our son. Something that NO ONE in court has done this far. His own state appointed lawyer won't even open his mouth on our son's behalf. He doesn't even know what he looks like. Our lawyer has a picture of him that she keeps with all of our information so that she never forgets who she is fighting for. We still have a long way to go, but we have hope. We are excited by the outpouring of love and support we have seen from #TeamBubba over the last several days.
We are in the process of making shirts for people to represent #TeamBubba wherever they go. I can't wait to share them with all of you! I think that it is so important that we shed light on what is happening in our local foster care and adoption community. We have learned so many things through our journey and our desire is to help people learn from our experiences. We hope that others can avoid some of the trials and tribulations we have had to go through because of the lessons we have learned. The system is a very complicated one and it's not always right or fair. Many times the system is wrong and hurts the very people it is supposed to protect. That is why it is so important that people become aware of what happens to these children and stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Through all of the mysteries of why we have to go through what we go through we know there is a plan. Perhaps part of that plan is to be an advocate of so many children who desperately need to be represented. I tell Tony all the time that we are fighters and we are not giving up until this fight has been won. But perhaps we are part of a much bigger fight, a fight to end the pain and suffering that waiting brings to children and to families. Change needs to happen for these children and we may be just the people to help bring about this change. No child should have to sit in limbo for two years or worse even longer, 4 or 5! No adult should receive 10 chances and continue to make the same mistakes without consequences. No state should support the bad decisions of some while making the good decisions of other be rewarded with pain and despair. It is not ok with me that 500,000 children in our county need good homes and I am positive that if you ask yourself that same question it would not be ok with you either.
Today's court date went pretty much how we expected it to, but there was an interesting turn at the end. Over all the case was pretty much continued and not much changed. However I am more sure now then I have ever been that we have a wonderful, honest, hard working, compassionate judge overseeing our case. I can't tell you how many times I have prayed that our judge wouldn't be able to sleep during the week leading up to our case, or how many times I have prayed that he would be woken up in the middle of the night thinking about our son and his case. Apparently it has worked. (Sorry Judge Cornelius!) He granted us the right to speak in court today and made several comments after the fact indicating that he had been thinking about Tony and I and wanted to hear our thoughts and have our perspective represented. This was very encouraging news.
While today's hearing didn't create any resolutions with our case it did allow us some more insight on what the judge is feeling about the direction of this case. It also allowed us to see that things can change so quickly over the life of a case. We are very hopeful now that things will start turning in the right direction. It feels so amazingly good to have a lawyer on our side who is looking out solely for the benefit of our son. Something that NO ONE in court has done this far. His own state appointed lawyer won't even open his mouth on our son's behalf. He doesn't even know what he looks like. Our lawyer has a picture of him that she keeps with all of our information so that she never forgets who she is fighting for. We still have a long way to go, but we have hope. We are excited by the outpouring of love and support we have seen from #TeamBubba over the last several days.
We are in the process of making shirts for people to represent #TeamBubba wherever they go. I can't wait to share them with all of you! I think that it is so important that we shed light on what is happening in our local foster care and adoption community. We have learned so many things through our journey and our desire is to help people learn from our experiences. We hope that others can avoid some of the trials and tribulations we have had to go through because of the lessons we have learned. The system is a very complicated one and it's not always right or fair. Many times the system is wrong and hurts the very people it is supposed to protect. That is why it is so important that people become aware of what happens to these children and stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Through all of the mysteries of why we have to go through what we go through we know there is a plan. Perhaps part of that plan is to be an advocate of so many children who desperately need to be represented. I tell Tony all the time that we are fighters and we are not giving up until this fight has been won. But perhaps we are part of a much bigger fight, a fight to end the pain and suffering that waiting brings to children and to families. Change needs to happen for these children and we may be just the people to help bring about this change. No child should have to sit in limbo for two years or worse even longer, 4 or 5! No adult should receive 10 chances and continue to make the same mistakes without consequences. No state should support the bad decisions of some while making the good decisions of other be rewarded with pain and despair. It is not ok with me that 500,000 children in our county need good homes and I am positive that if you ask yourself that same question it would not be ok with you either.
Comments
Post a Comment