Court Hearing

This coming Tuesday has the potential to be quite the historical event in the life of the Campbell Clan. Our first court hearing, and the next step in the proceedings to adopt Kaedyn, is slated for Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. We hope it is the last hearing, as well.

To quickly update you, our attorney made a few attempts at contacting Kaedyn's biological father, Andy, to serve notice of the court hearing on Tuesday. He was unable to locate Andy after attempting several different possible addresses, so we moved to the next step of publishing a public notice. Still no response from Andy. This doesn't mean he did not see the notice, it just means he didn't respond. He still has the right to appear at Tuesday's hearing and contest the proceedings, and my guess is he will do just that if he is indeed aware the hearing is taking place.

We were visited by a guardian ad litem last Saturday, as per required procedure. The guardian's purpose was to visit with us and make sure we understand exactly what adopting Kaedyn means in terms of parental rights and responsibilities, and to make sure Kaedyn is completely comfortable and has a grasp of what we are doing, and why. The guardian seemed satisfied with his visit, and will recommend the adoption to the judge on Tuesday.

At this point, this whole thing can go one of two ways: first, and optimally, Andy does not show up at the hearing, we present our evidence for the adoption of Kaedyn, the judge approves, hearing over. Let the celebration begin! Or, second, Andy does show up, can't put his pride and therefore good judgement aside, argues against us and the adoption, the judge sets a trial date, and we prepare for a potentially long, drawn-out court battle against a person who, in my humble opinion, lost the right to be a father a very long time ago.

While scenario #2 above would be the more difficult path to have to follow, we are very confident in our evidence against Andy and have no reason to believe he would stand a chance to win. We are very quickly approaching a full year since he has had contact with Kaedyn. No phone calls, no letters, not even so much as an attempt at contact. Furthermore, we have received a whopping $60 in child support since last April. Laughable. The lack of contact and child support is the most compelling evidence against Andy, and would most-certainly bury him in the eyes of a judge, but we would still prefer not to even have to present that evidence in a court battle. My biggest reasoning for this is because I just don't want Kaedyn to have to be exposed to what will surely be an emotionally-charged proceeding. I have no doubts it could even get ugly at times, and my son has already been through enough. I pray, and I hope, it all ends Tuesday.

I will keep you posted, as always. I thank you for your thoughts, prayers, encouragement, and support. I ask you for more of the same as Tuesday approaches.