Just to reiterate California makes it very easy for you to do your own court appearance. You do not need a lawyer. Go to www.courtinfo.ca.gov from there go to the forms and list them all alphabetically http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/allforms.htm grab the ones you need for the adoption. The ones you need are the -50 for an overview, 020, 200, 210, 215, 230 and VS-44. 020 is unique to LA county and VS-44 is not found at the web site but I provided a link to it in an earlier post. You will need that final recommendation from your home study social worker. It should come in a legal-ese format and will be notarized. Read it carefully as what I got did not have the “exhibits”. Luckily I had pdf of what was exhibited exhibit A was the last homestudy, Exhibit B was the Visa, and C was the court papers from India (original) with India equivalent of a notary. Of course your paperwork and exhibits will vary.
If you get stuck drop me a line lostdiver61 at yahoo dot com
For our soiree we had Camille's Aunt from Camp Aunt and two of her cousins, A friend from our church and a friend from our First Year of Marriage group (now going on 10 years) and one of her sons in tow. We got to the designated courthouse with ample time to spare and based on our court papers were to report to division 421. now you think division 421 would be on the 4th floor. Nope somehow we did not see the signs but there are a lot of 400 series division in this court house and division 421 is on the 5th floor. No worries it is just another Vador trip. have a seat and wait for the bailiff to show up. While we were waiting we got to see a youth get hooked up. it went down quietly but I think I heard one of the cousins humming “bad boys, bad boys, what ya going do when they come for you”. We were called in on time. Hum we are effectively suing our adoption agency for sole custody of our child and the defendant is not there – WOOHOO SLAM DUNK. Introductions were made and then the wife (Rn or She Who Must Be Obeyed) & I were sworn. Not the normal swearing but a nicer version of being truthful in our testimony. The judge looked over the papers in front of him and as best I can tell it seemed as though it was the first time he had seen them. So he asked a few questions about the info. The reporter stopped recording when there were questions and answers that were not germane to the case she stopped. Nice and professional like but still quite family oriented. 30 minutes later we were out the door.
To sum it up it could have been done over the phone. You get some of your forms back. You will want to keep form 215. My adoption agency was satisfied to close their books with a good pdf of the form. You may need to copy front and back as one page had the notary stamp from the court. The 215 form is your legal document that takes your child from the adoption agency and assigns you as the legal parent. Until the VS-44 completes, this is your child's birth certificate.
That about ends the blog of what to do after you get your child home in California. There are a few loose ends. The jury is out on getting the Certificate of Citizenship (N-600 form). It is used to prove you are a citizen when you have been born outside the US. It may be needed if you apply for certain scholarships, work in a gov job. As of Jan 2010 the cost if a tad of 5 Ben Franklin's but not by much. After we get the birth certificate we will most likely get a passport so that we can go visit our friend Jim Wills at http://www.marygbread.com/
je
PS
1. Once again blogger and I are at odds over the font - I am unable to publish today in Comic San MS and I am perturbed.
2. Happy Birthday Punk
