A Forever Family by Rob Scheer & Jon Sternfeld

Author:Rob Scheer & Jon Sternfeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery/Jeter Publishing

January 2010

A year after Amaya and Makai had come to us, and about six months after Nora had basically disappeared, the district finally acted. The kids’ goal was changed from reunification to reunification/adoption, which is something of an official warning to the birth parents. These were Nora’s kids and we were completely supportive of her taking them back if she were able. But we also saw what Amaya and Makai were going through. With heavy hearts, we called a lawyer.

Grandma Calfee didn’t watch the kids anymore, but she was still very much in our lives. A sweet soul, she was behind us once she knew we were pursuing adoption. We knew we were doing what was best for Amaya and Makai but also understood the racial optics that would come into play, as did she. Grandma Calfee recommended a well-known lawyer who was a pillar of the African American community. DC was required to give us a court-appointed attorney, though they never did. So we set up a meeting with the lawyer at our home.

Mr. Harris was an African American man in his fifties, tall with glasses. He was a snappy dresser in a long trench coat, bow tie, and fedora hat, and there was a professorial air to him. He spoke in a stern and direct voice that remained at one steady volume. One evening, after the kids’ bath time, he came to the house for a meeting, wanting to observe us with the children before agreeing to take the case. He sat quietly in the living room while we conducted our nighttime routine with the children. We were under the microscope once again, which we were used to by now. Under Mr. Harris’s watchful eye, we wound the kids down for bedtime, got their teeth brushed, and put them all to sleep. Then Reece and I met with him at the dining room table.

“Okay,” Mr. Harris said, as we sat down. He was drinking from a glass of iced tea, the ice cubes clinking around. “So let’s start by being up front.”

“Of course,” Reece said.

“Yes, please,” I said. “Be blunt.”

“You have very slim chances.”

The words just hung there, and my stomach dropped; that was exactly what I’d been afraid he was going to say. But I shook it off and tried not to show my disappointment. Reece and I met eyes.

“Why?” Reece asked, after a long beat.

I knew—I had thought about it all the time—but Mr. Harris answered.

“You are two white, gay men trying to adopt two black kids. And the mother doesn’t want it to happen. This is going to be a fight like you’ve never fought before,” he continued. “But I’m prepared for it. The question is: Are the two of you ready for it?”

“Absolutely,” I said. Reece agreed.

I don’t know if Mr. Harris realized it, but we had been fighting for quite some time. This next stage was just a new battle.

For an hour or so, Mr. Harris took notes on seemingly everything in our lives.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.