Hey, guys. It’s Cal. I want to bring you up-to-date on what’s happening with our amazing “foster son” Chance. I promise I’ll keep this as short as possible.
Chance has been with us for less than three months… and it’s hard to even remember what life was like without him. He and Bella are crazy about each other and Cookie thinks he’s her new “play toy.” Roberta has done an amazing job of teaching all of us ASL and we’ve found that communicating with him is no problem whatever. He loves his school and has become great friends with Dub, Tra and Austin. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier little dude.
Anyway, as I’ve already told you, the Department of Social Services said they had been unable to locate Chance’s parents… so, on the advice of our attorney we hired a “people locator service.” Interestingly, it took them less than a week to locate Chance’s birth mother. When we asked them how they did it, they said “It’s better you don’t know.” Our attorney agreed. Here’s what we know:
1. She’s alive – living in a small town in Arkansas – and married to a Church of Christ minister. They have no children and she says she is “unable to have children because of damage due to the birth of a child (the baby was born “breach”). She blames “It” for her inability to have children with her husband.
2. She says she was once a “loose woman” who had sex with a large number of men and has “absolutely no idea” who the father of her child was. She says that was before she “found Jesus.” The birth certificate shows “father unknown.”
3. She says she “Only had the baby because her mother pressured her to do it – and promised to raise “it.”
4. She is terrified that her husband will find out about the existence of a living child. She apparently told him she was raped and had a miscarriage that was responsible for her inability to conceive.
5. She agreed to a DNA paternity test on the condition of “non disclosure.” The DNA test confirms she is, in fact the birth mother. She only refers to the child as “It” and readily agreed to sign a “Statement of child abandonment.”
6. Our attorney has submitted all the information to the Department of Social Services and an “adoption hearing” is scheduled for Tuesday, October 15th. The State has told our attorney they will neither “recommend” nor “formally object to” the adoption. Alex and I have talked about this endlessly. It’s like this. The folks at Social Services aren’t bad people… they’re just afraid of doing something that’s “against the rules” or might cost them their jobs. Their earlier experience with Keon and Rick has apparently convinced them that a “non-traditional family” isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and honestly our attorney scares them half to death.
October 15th will be one of the most important days of our lives. We’d appreciate your thoughts and prayers. xoxo Cal and Alex