Contested Stepparent Adoption - It is possible to succeed!

When we found out that our step parent adoption had been contested, we were really stressed out and came to the internet to find similar stories and didn't find any! So, I wanted to share our story with you! My husband had custody of his son (I'll call the adopted son B) since he was 2 years old. The bio mom paid some child support off and on for a few years and had COMPLETELY stopped for 3 years. No phone calls, emails, letters, nothing. She hadn't seen B since he was 3 years old and B had no idea that the bio mom existed. I had been married to my husband for about 3 months when we started the adoption process (B was 7 at the time). The bio mom lived in Indiana and never has the same address or phone number for very long so it was hard to find her. We had to hire a private detective to find her and serve her the papers that told her I was going to adopt B. She had 90 days to respond (I think it was 90) and contested the adoption in like, the last possible week. She started paying child support again at this time (do not let that worry you, judges see through that). She showed up for the first court hearing and was issued a free attorney (we paid about $3000 for ours!). So, they had to schedule another court date. She didn't show up for the second court date but my attorney didn't have some sort of paper that he was supposed to have sooooo we had to schedule another court date. On the third court date, she did show up. We all testified, it was dramatic at times... and I was able to adopt B. In court that day, I felt so many mixed feelings about the whole situation. I was sad for B. I know that one day I'm going to have to explain to him that his bio mom was not able to care for him like he needed. She turned her back on him in the most tender and innocent time in his life. Honestly, I was sad for the bio mom too. I never ever thought I would feel that way toward her. After all, she is a grown woman who has made so many horrible decisions in her life that she completely lost custody forever of a child that she gave birth to. I love B so much. I'm glad all of that all of this is behind us and we can move on as a family. If you would like to know more or need to know who my attorney was, please email me! (we live in Loudon County TN and our attorney was out of Knox)... Good luck with your step parent adoption!!!:cheer: