Mission Accomplished

Oh dear, perhaps I should start with a better title since W has jinxed this one. How about: Court Hearing Success



Stephanie and I cleared the greatest hurdle on our way to adopting Nicholas today. We also made an impassioned plea for the court to waive the 15 day period during which the judge’s decision is subject to challenge. We were told these requests are almost never granted, except in the case of a life-threatening medical condition. Still, we’d been prepared for stiff opposition from the prosecution (unreal, I know, but they fight for deadbeat parent rights, even if it means keeping kids in the orphanage) and we thought it a good idea to make the request. If nothing else it would give the court something to refuse.

It turned out I think we benefited from providing a face-saving opportunity for the court. The judge still refused our request to waive the waiting period, but we ran into another problem...

We had a very tense few minutes in the middle of the hearing. The prosecutor took exception to our claim that the police had gone to reasonable lengths to locate Nicholas’ birth mother. She demanded the judge postpone any ruling until a thorough search for the boy’s mother could be conducted. This would have been heartbreaking--the cultural and geographic divide would have been very difficult to fight from Chicago.

With our translator providing the play-by-play to the judge, Stephanie and I were each allowed to say our piece before he ruled. Stephanie was at her best here, referring to the British family who’s daughter was recently abducted in Portugal. “Anyone losing a child wouldn’t sleep until they’d done everything possible to find him. No one has made a single call to a police station or visited the sole orphanage in town during the 15 months since Nicholas was found.”

The judge agreed and after a short recess we were told of his decision. The prosecutor was salty, and had words for the folks representing us before storming out. It was almost like something out of a movie.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We honestly believe that it’s been these prayers that have pulled us through and brought us one terrific step closer to getting Nicholas home.

PS: Holy Cow! You North Siders will be thrilled to see Harry Caray is alive and well here in Kazakhstan… Here we’re with two other adoptive parents we’ve met at Harry’s Central Asia eatery.