One of Inessa's foster sisters came on the hosting program last Christmas, and while she was here she met her "forever family". Although we haven't met in person, Meggie's American mom and I have become good friends as we encourage and support one another through this crazy process called international adoption. The Friend family (yes, that's their real last name!) was hoping to travel to Latvia in mid-October for their first trip to be reunited with Meggie, who is 11. They received word today through their adoption team that one of Meggie's biological relatives heard she was being adopted and has decided to appeal termination of rights.
Many of you may remember that we went through this same thing shortly after Inessa returned to Latvia at Christmastime. Our adoption was halted before we really got started when a biological relative went to court for custody of Inessa. It is heart wrenching in many ways - not only were we delaying in becoming a family with Inessa, but she had to endure the heartbreak of false hope of reuniting with her biological family. It is a precarious emotional position to be in...selfishly we wanted her with us, but in getting that, we knew Inessa would be terribly hurt. And she was. We are forever grateful to her foster family who has done a wonderful job of walking through that with her, but Inessa still carries a heavy emotional burden from all of this.
So please pray for Meggie and the Friend family. The court date is schedule for early December, and while it seems very, very likely that the petition will be denied and their adoption will progress, it is nonetheless a difficult situation for them all.
Many of you may remember that we went through this same thing shortly after Inessa returned to Latvia at Christmastime. Our adoption was halted before we really got started when a biological relative went to court for custody of Inessa. It is heart wrenching in many ways - not only were we delaying in becoming a family with Inessa, but she had to endure the heartbreak of false hope of reuniting with her biological family. It is a precarious emotional position to be in...selfishly we wanted her with us, but in getting that, we knew Inessa would be terribly hurt. And she was. We are forever grateful to her foster family who has done a wonderful job of walking through that with her, but Inessa still carries a heavy emotional burden from all of this.
So please pray for Meggie and the Friend family. The court date is schedule for early December, and while it seems very, very likely that the petition will be denied and their adoption will progress, it is nonetheless a difficult situation for them all.
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