The Avilla Family's own....

Adoption Adventure

Our Day in Court: We Answer Lots of Questions!

It's Wednesday morning, March 10, and our long-awaited "day in court" has arrived. Tatiana assured us that all the paperwork was in order and there shouldn't be any surprises. The judge handling adoptions for the Khabarovsk region has a reputation for being a stern stickler for detail. We are aware that it may even require a second day to complete the hearing.

We arrive with Irina at about 9:40. The courthouse is one of the stately stone buildings located on the large central square of the city. We enter the broad lobby and check our coats in the expansive coat-hook area. There's room for a lot of coats! The women gather around one of the columns that has mirrors attached to each side. I didn't realize until later that the mirrors weren't for decoration. The men's bathroom upstairs didn't have a mirror and I remembered - bed hair! Those mirrors were located in the lobby area so people could fix their hair! I laughed to myself...

Up on the third floor the group of women that would speak on our behalf gathered: Galina, the regional social services director for Vyazemsky, Vera, the director of the children's home, Nina, from the Ministry of Education that had reviewed all the documents, Tatiana, our agency coordinator, and another Galina, the translator for the court session. Additionally, Irina was along and sat with our Elena in the hall for most of the court proceeding.

Our court translator was brought in as a "ringer" - she was the head of the language department at the Khabarovsk teachers' college, had a couple of post-graduate degrees, was a world-traveled lecturer, plus, she is a very kind woman. She was also an excellent organizer and host - she guided us to a nearby lunch bistro and within a couple minutes had organized the orders for the ten members of our party. Galina was definitely nice to have on our team!

The court room was about forty feet long and twenty feet wide. The judge sat behind a large desk at one end, with about a dozen chairs for us at the other end of the room. In the middle of the room were the Prosecutor and the court Secretary, seated at straight-legged wooden tables. The ceiling was 12 feet high, plain green walls met the parquet hardwood floor, and three large windows lined one side of the room. That's where we would spend the next few hours, with a recess for lunch and a couple short breaks.

The judge opened the proceeding by having everyone identify themselves, read our adoption application into the record, then read us our statement of rights. Then the presentation of evidence began. I was the only one who had been asked questions at Lise's court hearing in 1997, so I was surprised to see that Kerry was asked to rise to answer questions first - for forty-five minutes! My wife's thorough preparation and planning showed through in her answers. The judge was stern and detailed in his questions, but Kerry stood tall and confident and had a well-articulated reply for every question. I was very proud of her obvious capacity to handle the demands ahead of us with the children, and I know you would be very proud of her, too, if you had been there. We took a short break, then came back for another fifteen minutes of questions. During that hour of grilling, the judge asked questions about every angle of our adoption: potential health issues, logistical demands ahead, preparation for school and adjustment, even Kerry's experiences helping with her two younger brothers when they were growing up.

By the time I was asked to stand, I had a good idea about what kind of personal information the judge wanted, so when he asked me to provide some background about myself, I started down my list and covered most of the personal history questions he had asked Kerry. Next were questions about my job and income. Then I got thrown a curveball: "Tell me about your household budget. How do you spend your money?" "Uh, duh, your Honor, my wife is a very capable bookkeeper and she manages our budget" I fumbled. The judge replied, "I guessed that and that's why I saved that question for you. Give me a breakdown of your monthly expenses by category." I had realized from watching Kerry that a confident answer was the major substance of the response, so I confidently started ticking down the list of categories in our budget, grabbing estimated amounts as I went. I felt like a rookie cop learning to drive on wet pavement. I swerved past whole categories, like credit card payments and utilities. He seemed satisfied with my answers. "You can sit down now". He didn't even ask me why I wanted to adopt the girls! I had an eloquent speech written out and he wants me to answer questions about budget line items! I figured Kerry had provided such good answers, he didn't think I had much to add.
Day in Court to be continued in the next edition...

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