(If you’ve seen the animated movie, “UP”, you’ll enjoy this. If not, it might be really pointless to read!)
Today we sat in our attorney’s office with our ten year old son, preparing him for his upcoming adoption hearing. The attorney sat across the large desk from the small boy, Dan and I on either side, as she shuffled through papers.
She explained the long process and what role he would play. She told him about the legal reason behind the need for his consent and how he had ten days to change his mind. She detailed for him the long list of questions she would ask and how he needed to answer loudly and not just shake his head. She read over the petition to adopt with three pages of legalese describing the first six years of his life, the termination of his parent’s rights and the reasons behind such extreme action.
She described the court room where he’d be giving his oath of honesty and taught him how to hold up his hand and swear to tell the whole truth. She gave him the option of sitting in the witness stand or at the table next to me.
She read, she legalized, she explained, she described…in detail…the entire court process which my son has waited four long years for and in fact, he could probably explain the process to her. And when she finally stopped to take a breath, my son…straight faced…looked right past her at the window beyond and said….
“Squirrel!”
