Ok, that title sounds a bit dramatic. But in all fairness, there have been some ways in which our adoption process HAS felt like such a journey, at least where the legal formalities have been concerned. Yesterday, we crossed the finish line. At 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon, on the fourth floor of the Jacksonville Courthouse, we appeared in front of a judge and requested the State of Florida to recognize our foreign adoption. Mia was all smiles! By completing this step, we ensured that Mia has full rights to our property and estate in the event of our untimely demise – equal to that of our biological child. She will be issued a Florida Birth Certificate, listing us as her legal parents. This isn’t essential for her now (our legal guardians would never deny her rightful inheritance), but will come in very handy in the future when she wants a driver’s license, or to apply to college. And, it just seemed like a no-brainer to us to get this taken care of now, while we are still familiar with all of those pesky Chinese documents, and we know where we’ve placed them. Time has a funny way of blurring little details. Personally, I am famous for putting things in clever places (so I won’t forget where I’ve put them), and then promptly forgetting that clever hiding place straightaway. I didn’t want to be scrambling ten years from now. As was our experience throughout this entire process, help came to us exactly when and where it was needed. In this instance, that help came from our local foreign adoption attorney Paul Consbruck. Check out his website here: http://www.adoptfla.com/ I can’t say enough good things about Paul. He and his wife have adopted two girls from China, and needless to say they were intimately knowledgeable about the process. He was kind and helpful on the personal side of this experience, and courteous and professional on the legal side. Until now, we (thankfully) haven’t had much experience with legal proceedings, and he did everything possible to keep it simple for us. Thank you, Paul! Unfortunately, Sydney was disappointed that she wasn’t present for the hearing. We explained that this was just for Mia, and that we didn’t want her (Sydney) missing school. When we went out for dinner to celebrate, Sydney had lots of questions about the day.
S: “Did the hammer sound scare Mia?” Me: “The hammer sound?” S: “Yeah, you know, the one the judge hits to call ‘order in the court!'” Sorry kiddo, no gavel at this hearing.
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Lisa LynchLisa is a world traveling mom that took the ultimate adventure Archives
December 2012
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