TPR

Yesterday was the "big" TPR trial. i'm actually a little shocked at just how anticlimactic it was.

At 2:30, they called us into the court room, and they swore D's caseworker in. We were the only ones there for D's case; her birthparents didn't come, the birthparents' attorneys weren't even present, the Guardian Ad Litem wasn't there, etc. Then the state's attorney asked "leading questions" of the caseworker. Things like, "Have you been the caseworker for ______ since she came into custody?" "Yes." Some of it wasn't even true! "Was _____ born on June 6, 2009?" (At which point, DH and i shook our heads no lol -- she was born on June 1, 2009). Not that it was a big deal. They didn't mention the drug use; they only dealt with abandonment. In the end, the judge "so ordered" that the parental rights be terminated.

It's really hard to believe that the last 9.5 months have really built up to this point. Really? This? It should be such a HUGE thing for a parent to lose their child and for a child to lose their birthparents. i only hope that D's life will be as painless as yesterday was.

Next steps? Within a week or know, we should know if they're going to deem D to be "special needs" or not, and decide if we want to appeal it in some way. We will have to sign some paperwork stating that we do intend to adopt, etc etc. And in 30 more days we can file our Petition to Adopt, and then get a court date. We'll have to decide for sure if we want to adopt in our home county (and if so, more than likely the adoption will finalize ON her 1st birthday!) or go to a surrounding county (it could be a little sooner there, and we won't have to wait through the whole docket).

i'm really just in tears as i write this. For our little girl to be OUR little girl... wow!