Legal Stuff 101

So here is how the legal stuff works

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The papers BM signed at the hospital were papers relinquishing her parental rights and granting custody to the agency.

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The Agency gave BM 4 business days to reconsider her decision, on the fifth day, Sept. 5 (remember the 1st was a holiday) the agency filed these papers with a judge.

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The judge reviewed and signed the papers which officially relinquishes the rights of the birthparents and granting legal custody to the agency. She is now in all technicality an orphan and a ward of the state - which means David and I are actually her licensed foster parents.

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The next step is for David and I to file our official adoption papers which will transfer legal custody from the agency to us. These papers will be filed next week and then the same judge will finalize the adoption six months after we've had custody of Emily... end of February or early March.

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So the champagne/formula comes out in six months!