Last week we went into Chicago to stand before a judge regarding our petition to "re-adopt" Melody. Her adoption was final in China, but we have the option of "confirming" the adoption in the state of IL, thereby generating a state birth certificate that is easily accessible whenever it may be needed in the future. Before we could go before the judge, however, Melody had to be served with a summons informing her of our petition to re-adopt her and asking her to respond within 30 days. The deputy sheriff who served her said "hopefully for the first and only time in your life, you've been served!" After that, we went before the judge to present our case. Next, our local homestudy agency will generate a report and send it to Melody's court-appointed Guardian Ad Litem, who will respond to the court on her behalf. On April 15th, our adoption decree will be entered and Larry will go downtown to get copies on the 16th.
If all of this sounds complicated, it is! Now I have to brag on Larry a bit. For Julie's re-adoption we used a lawyer for everything. This time, Larry did the research and did everything himself! He filled out all the right forms, got everything notarized, made an initial trip downtown to file everything, used all the right language, and represented us before a judge in a courtroom. Wow! Way to go Larry!! By doing all of this, he saved us half the money a lawyer would have cost (well, we have yet to figure in the atrocious cost of parking in Chicago, but still...). We also saved money by traveling into Cook County rather than staying in DuPage. Cook has a whole courtroom just for adoptions, along with a family playroom with computers to play on. Thank you, Larry, for all your hard work.
The deputy filling out paperwork: 
Serving Melody:
Playing as we wait:
They gave the girls lollipops on our way out of the courtroom. Melody's first! (What a MESS!)
Friday, March 07, 2008
Melody Has Been Served
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Cool Beans!!
We need to get off our rears and take care of that.
So what did Melody think of that first lollipop?
Great job Larry! I don't think I'd be brave enough to try it....so kudos to you!
Glad the courthouse was so accomodating to children - and they even hand out treats. I'm thinking Melody really enjoyed the "sugar on the stick"!!
Larry should really be commended. The process can be daunting and difficult to navigate. Take it from a Lawyer! Wonderful that Larry was confident enough to file the paperwork and present your file to the judge. Great work. Don't forget to send away for the Certificate of foreign birth (there is a separate form).
And Congratulations!
Kerry
Post a Comment