We have BIG news!
We have finalized the adoption of Felicity Grace Southard!
We are beyond excited to have finally reached the end of this two year process! Now that we have completed the process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign to help ease the financial burden that has become overwhelming.
Here is our story:
On March 11th 2017 Christine and I’s life would forever be changed by a phone call from a family friend. We were informed that a young woman had just left her prenatal checkup at the doctor’s office the family friend worked at and this mother was still seeking an adoptive family for her child. The family friend mentioned us to the mother and received permission to share contact information with us. We met with her five days later in person to discuss the possibility of adoption. She was going to be induced five days later and time was of the essence. We left uncertain what this woman would decide because you could tell she was struggling with such a hard choice. We prayed and we waited and heard nothing more. The day after the planned induction and birth we were called by our lawyer asking if we could come the following day to sign the necessary paperwork to start the process of adoption. We were stunned and overjoyed, in fact, it is hard to describe the situation and all that came with it including the one million emotions that took place in that short period of time. Blessed, fortunate, and happy, like a treasure had just been given to us, are just some of the emotions that we experienced. These emotions became the root of the name we chose and we rushed to Albany to pick up our daughter, Felicity Grace, from the hospital.
God was so good to us and things were falling into place so quickly. However we were not expecting or prepared for what was going to happen. Before picking Felicity up from the hospital we had to go to the Albany Court House to sign legal guardian documentation to have full parental rights of Felicity. That same day the bio-mother and father signed their parental rights away to us. However, in New York you have 45 days to file a Revocation of Consent to the adoption. On day 42 bio-mom filed her revocation in the Albany County Surrogate’s Court who oversaw the guardianship filing and where the adoption was to take place. Filing a revocation does not mean that you will get the child back, but starts a best case hearing process. Both the adoptive family and the bio-family start on the same level playing field and the lawyers submit evidence that shows why their client is in the best interest of the child and why the other parent(s) are not in the best interest of the child. Felicity was also appointed a lawyer to represent her best interests too. The best interest hearing lasted four days over September and October 2017. In January 2018 the Surrogate’s Court ruled in our favor stating that Felicity’s best interests were to remain with us. Three days later bio-mom filed an appeal. It took over a year and on March 26, 2019 we had the court hearing (oral arguments) at the New York State Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. All appeals to the lower court’s rulings are heard here by five judges who are intimately aware of the case having spent months going over all the documentation from the original trial. Five weeks later the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision and Felicity was to remain with us and the adoption was allowed to proceed; the final step in the adoption process was scheduled for June 3rd, 2019.
On June 3rd we arrived at the court house were this all started over two years ago and Felicity officially became a Southard in every legal sense. There was not a dry eye in the courtroom when the judge announced that from that day forward, Felicity would be legally referred to as Felicity Grace Southard. Then she had Felicity sit in her chair to pound the gavel. However, it didn’t happen without a few hurdles; more on that in a minute. It was a joyous occasion and many family and friends came to celebrate and witness this special day — for which we are so grateful! We often joked that we wanted to “fill the court room” and I can say we were very close to achieving that goal!
Upon arriving at the courthouse Christine and I were asked by our attorney to come back to the judge’s office area to speak with us personally. There were two issues brought to our attention. First, that morning, the bio-mother filed a Notice of Motion for Reargument or Leave to Appeal. Basically this means they are trying to reargue the case or take it to the New York Supreme Court. The second issue was Massachusetts only had given us provisional approval in 2017 to allow Felicity to come from New York into Massachusetts to live with us in our home. Formal approval is needed and some paperwork was missing. However, God was in control and we were able to move forward with the adoption because no “stay” had been ordered in the motion for appeal, and the judge, who was the original judge in the original hearing, said two years was long enough and she did not feel the higher court would accept the case. Our attorney felt comfortable that he would be able to quickly deal with the missing paperwork required to have a record of the formal approval from Massachusetts. This was HUGE and it’s just one more way that God has his fingerprint all over this situation.
The process has been long and hard, and has been a huge financial burden, but we take comfort from the one true Comforter. Our prayer has been and will continue to be that God use this situation in a mighty way to bring him Glory and Honor.
Christine & Nolan Southard
