Harbor Life Ministries

It was a long week following the birth of Sofia on Sunday, although she and birthmother Hanna did well with the delivery and post partum.

Hanna left the hospital Monday afternoon. Baby Sofia had to stay in the hospital until the adoption, which was planned to take place on Friday.

Hanna met Monday evening with licensed social worker Peggy Dodds to do assessment paperwork for the adoption, a process required in Ohio to ensure that the birthmother is aware of all the laws concerning adoption and is making the adoption choice of her own free will.

Hanna spent much of the week packing her school books and all her belongings that she had collected while being in Ohio. It was hard to believe she had collected so much in such a short time. Hanna and her mother Sara spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing and taking things to the post office to ship home to Arizona.

Hanna also was able to visit Sofia daily while Sofia was in the hospital. Thursday Hanna and her mother decided to cook dinner for the family, since Hanna was already on the schedule to cook her chicken enchiladas. We had a great family dinner night, with the girls, Kirsten, Hanna and KC?s rendition of ?Wait for You?. [Note: see earlier blog post re: Hanna's last supper].

Late in the evening Thursday a call came from the attorney regarding a small glitch that had developed with the adoption. The problem stemmed from the fact that Hanna was from Arizona, the adoptive parents were from Indiana and the baby was born in Ohio. Somehow no one had noticed this fact until 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, or least no one had seen that it presented any kind of a problem until then.

Let me point out something here. The counseling that Hanna had for three months leading up this point in time was extensive and complete. She knew by this point what she wanted to do, that it was the right thing for her, for Sofia and for the adoptive family, and she was quite ready to do it and move on past this part of her life. She and her mom Sara were supposed to be on a plane out of Cleveland on Friday evening. Now the legal situation was threatening to postpone everything further. We looked at many options, including?

• Give custody of Sofia to an adoption agency and the agency would try and place her in a few months. That option would require Sofia going into foster care at the adoptive parents’ expense. There was no guarantee that the adoptive parents would get to spend time with Sofia, as that would be up to the foster family. The cost to the adoptive family would be $50 a day for the care of the baby as well as about $900 in agency expenses. This also would not guarantee the baby to go with the family that Hanna had selected, spent time with, gotten to know and desired to raise her baby. Hanna would also have to stay in Ohio until at least Wednesday with this plan.
• Hanna just keeps the baby, put her in a babysitting arrangement until the adoption could go through. This would be with one of the relief staff of Harbor House and at no cost to the family and the family would stay with and care for Sofia.

Neither of these options, the best at the time, did not guarantee that Ohio and Indiana were ever going to approve the adoption. After praying about options and seeking the Lord’s guidance on the best outcome for both Hanna and Sofia, the attorney and Karla spoke Friday morning. There was a new option.

• Option 3: Contact an AZ attorney and do an AZ to IN adoption. We were just unsure how that would work, being that we always use an Ohio attorney. However John Huffman was able to get in touch with an attorney in Arizona that gave great direction and guidance. The end plan accomplished everyone?s goals and in a shorter amount of time, and was the most straight-forward legally.

We met with Hanna, her mother and the adoptive parents and explained what had happened, all the twists and turns that had taken place overnight, and what all the options looked like. There were a lot of questions and after about an hour of discussion, everyone agreed that the third option was the best. Even so, when Sara called her husband to explain it, he was immediately skeptical. You have to know Paul, though; he is a Type A individual, he was in Arizona, his family was in Ohio, and now suddenly the whole plan had changed.

Karla spoke at length with Paul and he finally agreed on the new plan, so the attorneys drew up the paperwork to allow the adoptive parents to temporarily care for the baby. Everyone then headed to the hospital where Sofia was released to Hanna, who put the baby in the car seat in the adoptive parents car, and then Hanna got into her car with her mother and headed for the airport. They were able to catch their flight to AZ at 8:15 as scheduled, arriving home after midnight. Sofia and the adoptive parents headed to Indiana to spend the weekend.

Hanna spent Saturday with her father and her friends, explaining to them these past few months and sharing what had gone on in her life.

There was still one very important piece to the adoption that needed to be put in place in Arizona: the birthfather’s signature/approval was still needed. The AZ attorney was scheduled to meet with Hanna and the birthfather to get both their signatures on the paperwork.

Hanna was a bit reluctant to sign her papers first before the birthfather because of the thought that she might sever her rights, only to have him unexpectedly not sign the paperwork and possibly get custody (although paternity had not been established through DNA testing, making it unlikely that scenario could have played out).

Even with Hanna’s concerns, the birthfather showed up and, after an hour-and-a-half of talking and counseling, he signed the papers.

The adoptive mom Julie along with Julie’s mother and Sofia all arrived in Arizona on Monday night where they would meet with the attorney, meet the birthfather, and spend some time with Hanna before returning to Indiana.

On Thursday, Sofia met her birthfather. It was a great meeting. The birthfather (as well as everyone else who sees her) believes Sofia to be the most beautiful baby in the world.

As of today, Hanna and the birthfather, having signed, are done with their part of the adoption. The adoptive mom Julie awaits notice from Indiana that she can return home, and Sofia is well on her way to having a great life, with such a large extended family.