Interveners

Adel and I met with a lawyer on Friday.  This is not something we ever pictured ourselves doing.  But since so many people have advised us to intervene now that our case is going in bio dad's favor, we thought we would at least interview a lawyer to see what it would gain for us. The lawyer we picked is a good friend to the main judge of our court and is very familiar with the associate judge that is so unreasonable and the bio dad's lawyer that is so aggressive. He is not scared or worried about handling either of them and seemed extremely confident that he could win, though no guarantees.  He outlined his attack plan and it is exactly what we would want to see happen. 

If we hire him, we will be legally inserted into the case as interveners to protect the kids.  Our lawyer would basically take up the position of character assassination for the bio dad, using every reason we have ever discussed (abandonment of these kids,  a history of abandonment of other kids, lack of child support, lack of steady income, questionable relationship with new wife who was 15 when she conceived their first child when he was 30...) as part of showing the jury that he is not a fit parent.  Then he would contrast with us who at that point would have had the kids in our home for nearly a year and a half.  Representing the intervener, he can demand the trial be removed from the associate judge that we don't like and put it back under the superior judge. He also was confident that he could assure us of a jury trial which would greatly benefit us.  

We have prayed about this all weekend and talked to several friends who have been in similar situations.  In the end, we both agreed that we feel God is calling us to step in as parents for B&J, that He has given us the resources to do it, and that He has given us the children to protect.  We feel we would be lacking in this calling if we didn't intervene and use our finances to legally insert our rights to protect them into the trial.  We plan to hire this lawyer because we believe that he has the best chance of changing the outcome of this trial.  

Let me assure you that we do not make this decision lightly.  It is a huge financial investment in a process we are not guaranteed to win.  But one thing we have grown to realize is that these kids (all foster kids) are at the mercy of a broken system.  Our case in particular is especially broken because the judge is so unwilling to hear what is in the best interest of the kids and the bio dad's attorney is so vicious.  In this broken system, we have been made victims along with the kids, at the whim and will of CPS and the judge.  Once we use our finances to insert ourselves into the case, we suddenly have power and influence and are no longer helpless.  And if we do it on behalf of saving the kids what we believe will be heartbreak and suffering, that power and influence is well used!  We have wrestled with whether it is right to use this power to influence the court to take away a father's rights and we believe we have grounds to do so given the situation.  We also believe that though we can't possibly save all the children in situations like this, God put these particular children into our home so that He could use us to save them.  And when Adel questioned out loud, is it right to give up so much for kids that may never be grateful for the sacrifice, we just thought of Christ's sacrifice for us and that settled it. 

Please continue to pray for us and for this case.  We have definitely felt your prayers, especially because it is very clear that God is unfolding this path before us and we are just following each step as he lays it out.  Although we feel very confident in our victory I am of course still nervous that we will fail.  If we fail, we can trust we did what we believed God called us to do and again we will ask you to pray us through our grief.  But until that day, we ask you to join us in praying for victory!