Who's Your Daddy?

Well, it's a question we honestly have to deal with now. My current husband just adopted my daughter from a previous marriage because my ex-husband did not want to pay child support any more (Who would?) and because if something happened to me, my husband and whole family were worried that she would end up going to him. So, it all worked out. It was a rather painless process. We filled out a few painfully complicated forms. A lady (who ended up buying some jewelry from me and referring someone to me who bought a lot)from the juvenile court office did a home visit to make sure our home and my husband were sufficient. (Apparently, they were.) We paid $100. Then, somewhere in Texas, my ex-husband had to sign some papers in front of a judge terminating his parental rights. Then, we had to go to court for about seven minutes. The judge asked my if I understood that this meant my husband was taking on the legal rights of being her father as far as inheritance and such. I said I understood. Then, he asked my husband basically the same thing and he said he understood. Then, he told my daughter her new last name. (We kind of had to bribe her about that part.) Then we signed some more papers and paid another $120 and we were done.
Just the other day we got her new birth certificate. It has my current husband listed as her birth father. It's as if my ex-husband has been erased from existence. Weird.

The Investigation. . .

Our home investigation was yesterday. My husband is adopting my seven-year old daughter from my first marriage, so the juvenile court lady had to come do a home investigation to make sure our home is suitable and my daughter and husband have a loving bond. It was basically a bunch of questions about my income, (I'm not adopting anybody. I don't have to. ) education, birthplace, and other boring stuff. Same questions for my husband. A few questions for my daughter, but not too many. My three-year old kept bringing trucks to show her. She was muoy impressed. Then, she looked at my daughter's and my son's rooms. She hasn't even seen my ex in over a year. I don't think she even remembers him as her dad.

Deal with the Devil

I made a deal with the Devil. In two days, my ex-husband was supposed to start paying child support for my six-year-old daughter for the first time ever. For some reason, he really, really didn't want to. He moved to Texas about a year ago (Yay!), got married, bought a house, and actually got a job. My theory is that he lied on his mortgage application. To get out of paying child support, he agreed to give up his legal rights to her, so my current husband could adopt her. Why he would give up his rights to such a beautiful girl, I don't know. What he didn't realize was that the adoption process takes about six months and he would have to pay child support for that six months. Well, he got all mad and said if he had to pay child support, then he wasn't going to give up his rights. "Fine, then pay the child support," I said. Well, then he said he wasn't going to pay AND give up his rights. I explained that I had to pay money for him to give up his rights and to make this adoption go through. I had to pay $150 just to file the form. Then, there's another $100 for the investigation fee to see if my husband is fit to be a dad or if he's a criminal. There are plenty of other fees and then court costs when we get to the actual adoption. I also told him I was paying three mortgages right now. He said that wasn't his fault. I said that he was right, it wasn't, but it was a fact. So, finally I told him that I would tell the Friend of the Court that I didn't want child support (which would have been about $1800 for the six months) if he sent me a check for $1500. It was a deal with a Devil. But there still are some stipulations. He still has to pay me her medical bills that he owes me and some of the other money he owes me from before. Maybe I will be able to buy some beads. Or maybe I will have to pay that darn mortgage.