Re-adoption

On Thursday Ethan, Mark and I went to court to formally “re-adopt” Ethan through the American court system. Even though the adoption was finalized by Kazakh law last year, the re-adoption process allows it to go through the American system, and he ends up with an American birth certificate (huh?). The re-adoption process is a pro-forma thing that familes do for the extra level of security of having the US legal system formally approve it too.

Anyway, we met with the judge in her chambers (just a room), after waiting in the crowded court room with a wriggling Ethan, and lots of somber looking grownups and their attorneys. Even though we told Ethan it wasn’t anything bad, he was pretty nervous – not knowing exactly what to expect. He grabbed onto a chair when it was time to meet with the judge, and didn’t want to let go.

But as soon as the judge started talking nicely with Ethan, he warmed up immediately, and started bombarding her with questions. “That’s a J on your desk! What’s that for?” She explained the metal paperweight “J” was for Judge. “Are there bad people here?” he asked, to which she assured us there weren’t.

There was also a court officer there, who was indistinguishable from a policeman to a small boy. That made Ethan’s day. He asked the man what his name was (Bill), then asked about all the keys on his key chain. There was a giant jail key, and Ethan got to play with it and the real handcuffs, and try opening them with the key. Very cool.