Well, August 5th was a very emotional day. It was the day that our family has been looking forward to, but at the same time dreading. In order for us to be able to move forward and adopt Sydney, that means that her biological parents had to lose their parental rights. I've been to every hearing and meeting with the exception of the initial hearing because I was home with her and she wasn't yet 6-weeks old. Regarless of what has happened over the last 18 months, it was still very hard to watch their faces as the judge ruled that their parental rights to all of the girls had been terminated.
I spoke with both of them (alone & together) after the decision was given. The biological mother thought about it and spoke with her court appointed attorney as well as another attorney and has decided not to appeal because it's in the best interests of the girls. So, now we wait to see if the biological father does the same or if we have another long, drawn out court battle on our hands (that we're not technically a part of) before we can petition for adoption.
I'd like for this to be over sooner rather than later. I'd like to know for sure what is to become of her older sisters. Has the foster family changed their mind and are they wanting to adopt them now or will my parents come in and adopt them? They are the two who really need permanency. Sydney doesn't know anyone other than our family as her own. I'm sure that some day she's going to be quite shocked to find out that she was not born into our family and that her middle and last names were not always what she's known them to be. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and deal with the questions and emotions at that time.
Now, I'm dealing with one who is starting high school, another who is staring the end of high school and who will be moving on next summer. Regardless of whether or not we're starting over again with Sydney, it's so hard to think that we're going to be letting go of our first born. We'll always be here for him, but it's about time to let him spread his wings and fly and see if he can handle the world outside of our immediate reach.
