Chapter 16 - The Adoption Petition Dies
Celeste withdrew the stepparent adoption petition.
Not because the court instantly rejected her.
Her lawyer advised there was no realistic path while:
Criminal child-endangerment investigation pending.
No-contact safety plan.
Marriage collapsing.
Father withdrawing consent.
My consent mattered.
I filed written withdrawal.
The petition ended.
Celeste said through counsel:
“You’re taking away the only child I have.”
That sentence angered me.
Then saddened me.
She had no biological children.
Had miscarried once in a prior relationship.
I had known.
She bonded intensely with Ivy partly because of that history.
Again:
explanation.
Not entitlement.
I told her lawyer:
“She is not Celeste’s child to lose.”
Then corrected later in therapy.
Celeste had been a stepmother.
A real relationship.
The problem was not that she felt attachment.
The problem was treating attachment as ownership.
Ivy had lost a caregiver too.
Even an unsafe caregiver can be missed.
At bedtime one night:
“Celeste made pancakes.”
“Yes.”
“I like.”
“Okay.”
“Can she come?”
“No.”
“Because suitcase?”
“Yes.”
Ivy cried.
Not because she wanted Celeste as mother.
Because family rupture is still rupture.
I held her.
No:
She was bad.
No:
Forget her.
May you like
We had learned that lesson too.
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