How the Court Trial Went
(long)
Today was the infamous Feb 6th court date that we have been waiting for since early December. We are one of the lucky few to be involved in a contested adoption. I thought I’d better jump on my blog first thing and let everyone know it went. I’m exhausted and I apologize if I come across scatter brained. It’s been a really long day. It didn’t help that a huge snow storm hit the area and it took us five hours to drive home from the courthouse for what should have been a two and a half hour drive. The freeways had about 4-6 inches of snow on them the entire way home. I realize this is a long and detailed post, but in hopes of not having to repeat myself to our many friends and family feel free to pull up a chair, get yourself a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show.
I had been planning on attending the hearing for the past few weeks. Yesterday we met with our attorney, Monica so that she could prep Abbie on what to say, and what not to say. And while meeting with her she thought it was best that I not come. Monica said that by me being in the room I could potentially be subject to their attorney requesting me to be a witness and having to testify. So my recollections of the evening are hazy because I’ve heard everything second hand. We don’t have much to worry about anymore thankfully. But it’s still not over. The hearing went extremely well for us. The Judge ruled him as a "do nothing father" which was good for us according to Michigan law. Abbie did a splendid job as she always does and was very brave. She spent at least an hour on the witness stand. The birthfather made a fool of himself and it is almost certain at this point that his rights will eventually be terminated. The trial is far from over, but the court was able to squeeze us in on Friday morning so the saga will continue in two days. Here are some snippets from when her birthfather was on the stand...
-He called Kylie “it” several times and claimed to not know what her gender was. Despite knowing her name was “Kylie” and seeing her in the hospital in pink.
- Monica (our attorney) asked him about how many times he has been incarcerated and he replied that he didn’t know what the word “incarcerated” meant. So Monica then asked him if he knew what the term “locked up” meant and he replied yes. So then Monica proceeded by asking him how many times he as been locked up etc, etc.
- He lied about some of his criminal records and our attorney was able to prove this by his police reports and records that she had. He then made some comment of some sort that being in court is one big blur to him because he's in court so often.
-When asked about how he was going to financially pay for Abbie’s medical expenses his plan was to use his several thousand from his savings. When Monica probed into this further he admitted that "his" money is in his friends savings account and that he only knew the first name of his friend. So the funds he is planning on using is really his friend's money. And probably drug money at that. You can tell how well that went over well with the Judge, lol.
-When asked about the twenty five cats that that live in his house he replied “I don’t know… we used to.” He then told the court that didn’t think they had that many cats anymore because he never saw that many at one time because they all hid in the cupboards. The judge's reaction over that one was pretty good I hear also.
Anyways, his lawyer is very inexperienced with adoptions and the judge on several times had to educate this lawyer on adoption law. At one point, the judge was tapping his fingers together in front him with wide eyes… almost in disbelief. On another occasion the birthfather's father spoke to the judge from pew (a BIG no, no). His mother’s cell phone went off during the proceedings and she didn’t do anything to turn it off. Judge was mad, confiscated her cell phone and only gave it back to her once she came up to the stand and apologized to the judge and court at the end of the hearing. The judge also didn’t realize that the adoptive parents have been in Michigan this entire time and seemed shocked when he found that the baby was still in Michigan. The judge apologized profusely to our lawyer about that misunderstanding.
While the court took a short recess Kylie’s guardian ad litem spoke with the birthfather’s attorney in hopes of reaching a plea deal. So there I was in the middle of Kohls while trying to immediately decide along with Jared what we are comfortable as far as a plea deal goes. *No pressure* It ended up not mattering. During the last recess after her birthfather had been publicly humiliated, he stormed out to the parking lot and refused to come back in.
I just wanted to thank all the many amazing and wonderful friends and family that we have had praying for us and for Kylie. It has meant the world to us and we are so grateful for all of your love and support. We know our prayers are being answered and I feel so much better now that the end is starting to be in sight.
