Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Lillian's Adoption Story
Lillian Asiah is not 100% ours until the final order of adoption, should be around April. The seventeen month pursuit of adopting her involved all the same crap we endured with our adoption of Ben, only since we were not foster parents they couldn't launch "special investigations" against us!
A year ago the ombudsman closed their administrative review of her lack of sibling visits, concluding the adoption was in process, then the attack from Methodist resumed. I don't know HOW they network and can dictate to other agencies what to do, but at that time we were working with Judson Center who decided that the home study they had completed on us in September 2007 was "incomplete". Too bad for them the unsigned 9-page version had been introduced into evidence, so when they gave us the signature page in October 2007, which was page 12, it was obvious fraud.
We found another agency through friends, they didn't want to get involved with two other agencies involved. That was December, and the Ys who adopted a sister stepped up and said THEY would adopt her. MCI's William Johnson (Michigan's legal guardian for permanent wards) sent us a nice letter that we were NOT being considered. We told the court we were NOT competing in the adoption, and the new agency was free to study us for a MARE child. They were also able to point out the incomplete nature of the Judson study, since started and incomplete home studies MUST be disclosed in Michigan, so thanks to Judson for calling it INCOMPLETE!
By May the Ys were fed up with the nonsense, because they were foster parents approved for a borrowed bed but Methodist would NOT transfer Asiah as a foster child, Methodist pulled some paperwork crap on the Ys (child doesn't qualify for subsidy - a lie) and the Ys decided it was enough. They didn't have any fight in them, I don't have the whole story but I can't blame them. They had endured the same crap in 2005, and Mr. Y ended up leaving for a time, so if they didn't have to fight why should they?!
So in May Methodist was back to NO ADOPTIVE FAMILY IDENTIFIED, and a court date lombing with an ANGRY judge. Quite a problem for an agency that had a FOUR-Month-old when she became a permanent ward! William Johnson must have felt his butt was on the line, because he knew two things, the Sweetmans will FIGHT to the bitter end, AND the Sweetmans had been at ALL the child's court hearings for almost a year. So the day before her May hearing he called our agency to confirm we were still interested in adopting the child, which we were, and with the MCI request to take over the adoption case our agency could officially get involved (Methodist kept Foster care).
The May court order for adoptive parent visitation went ignored (as did the previous Sept court order), so in August the judge threatened the agency worker with CONTEMPT, called for another hearing in thirty days, and therefore we started getting ADOPTIVE PARENT VISITATION. Should NOT take THREE COURT ORDERS.
With visitation and overnights in process, in September the paperwork games started, same subsidy issue as the Ys. Claims that the baby was not the sibling of our other FOUR adopted children. We gave our agency a truck load of documents proving they were siblings, same case number etc, just a stupid excuse. Two weeks ago we called our legislators, and in 24 hours Lansing gave up the "fight", we got the next available court date, and on MONDAY October 27th we filed the petition and got adoptive placement. GOD's hand at work.
I never really thought we would adopt her, the whole thing was very anti-climatic, Mark and I just felt led by the Holy Spirit to make sure she WAS adopted and had a permanent family. The only drama at the end was that Methodist kept calling the foster mother in the week before we filed the petition, telling her that they HAD to do a final visit on Monday, our agency said "NO", we know of course that was their last ditch effort to find "something" or make up something, we have been there and done that crap with Ben's adoption. Since we are NOT foster parents, Methodist had NO authority over us. After all, it was their decision in June 2007 to NOT work with us. Lillian Asiah is in our home, PRAISE GOD!
A year ago the ombudsman closed their administrative review of her lack of sibling visits, concluding the adoption was in process, then the attack from Methodist resumed. I don't know HOW they network and can dictate to other agencies what to do, but at that time we were working with Judson Center who decided that the home study they had completed on us in September 2007 was "incomplete". Too bad for them the unsigned 9-page version had been introduced into evidence, so when they gave us the signature page in October 2007, which was page 12, it was obvious fraud.
We found another agency through friends, they didn't want to get involved with two other agencies involved. That was December, and the Ys who adopted a sister stepped up and said THEY would adopt her. MCI's William Johnson (Michigan's legal guardian for permanent wards) sent us a nice letter that we were NOT being considered. We told the court we were NOT competing in the adoption, and the new agency was free to study us for a MARE child. They were also able to point out the incomplete nature of the Judson study, since started and incomplete home studies MUST be disclosed in Michigan, so thanks to Judson for calling it INCOMPLETE!
By May the Ys were fed up with the nonsense, because they were foster parents approved for a borrowed bed but Methodist would NOT transfer Asiah as a foster child, Methodist pulled some paperwork crap on the Ys (child doesn't qualify for subsidy - a lie) and the Ys decided it was enough. They didn't have any fight in them, I don't have the whole story but I can't blame them. They had endured the same crap in 2005, and Mr. Y ended up leaving for a time, so if they didn't have to fight why should they?!
So in May Methodist was back to NO ADOPTIVE FAMILY IDENTIFIED, and a court date lombing with an ANGRY judge. Quite a problem for an agency that had a FOUR-Month-old when she became a permanent ward! William Johnson must have felt his butt was on the line, because he knew two things, the Sweetmans will FIGHT to the bitter end, AND the Sweetmans had been at ALL the child's court hearings for almost a year. So the day before her May hearing he called our agency to confirm we were still interested in adopting the child, which we were, and with the MCI request to take over the adoption case our agency could officially get involved (Methodist kept Foster care).
The May court order for adoptive parent visitation went ignored (as did the previous Sept court order), so in August the judge threatened the agency worker with CONTEMPT, called for another hearing in thirty days, and therefore we started getting ADOPTIVE PARENT VISITATION. Should NOT take THREE COURT ORDERS.
With visitation and overnights in process, in September the paperwork games started, same subsidy issue as the Ys. Claims that the baby was not the sibling of our other FOUR adopted children. We gave our agency a truck load of documents proving they were siblings, same case number etc, just a stupid excuse. Two weeks ago we called our legislators, and in 24 hours Lansing gave up the "fight", we got the next available court date, and on MONDAY October 27th we filed the petition and got adoptive placement. GOD's hand at work.
I never really thought we would adopt her, the whole thing was very anti-climatic, Mark and I just felt led by the Holy Spirit to make sure she WAS adopted and had a permanent family. The only drama at the end was that Methodist kept calling the foster mother in the week before we filed the petition, telling her that they HAD to do a final visit on Monday, our agency said "NO", we know of course that was their last ditch effort to find "something" or make up something, we have been there and done that crap with Ben's adoption. Since we are NOT foster parents, Methodist had NO authority over us. After all, it was their decision in June 2007 to NOT work with us. Lillian Asiah is in our home, PRAISE GOD!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Alec Baldwin takes on family law - News
Alec Baldwin takes on family law - News: "Professor Jeannie Suk"
Monday, April 14, 2008
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