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Hi Jeanne,
I thought we were the only ones experiencing minor birthmother problems! We have had a lot of problems due to the minor status.
Unfortunately, I can't address your issues because we didn't have problems with the minor status until we hit PGN. PGN asked for the birth grandmother's husband to sign off since the birth grandmother had a different last name than the birthmother. What PGN wouldn't understand, however, was that the man the grandmother was married to was NOT the birthmother's father and also had died 20 years ago. Though not the birthmother's father, PGN still required the grandmother's deceased husband's relinquishment signature or a death certificate. Of course, they couldn't find the death certificate so they had to get a certified statement of death signed by the town's mayor. They had to go back and get the statement three separate times because they kept issuing the statement with errors (wrong name, wrong age). FINALLY, they accepted the death certificate (took about 6 weeks) and now PGN passed us off to Minor's Court so that the birthmother can go in for her 2nd relinquishment interview. (I don't know if you are aware but as of 1/1/06, if a case enters PGN with a minor birthmother, the birthmother has to go to Minor's Court for a 2nd interview. This is a separate interview from what was done in FC.) Believe it or not, we experienced problems in Minor's Court as well. The day the birthmother was scheduled for her interview, there was no longer a psychologist on staff to perform the interview. A new psychologist is now on staff and we are waiting to see if the interview can be completed this week. After the interview is completed, we go back into PGN for final approval.
The minor birthmother status has really caused us extra stress and has signficantly delayed our case. I don't say this to scare you; however, you should know that this is normal and has happened to others. Hang in there! Though upsetting, we wouldn't have wanted any other child than our little guy. We would have accepted this referral no matter what but we wish our agency better prepared us for some of the issues associated with minor birthmother cases. Perhaps addressing this issue now, will help your agency and the attorney be better prepared once you enter PGN.
I hope your issue is resolved soon! I feel for you!!!
Dee
Waiting on our son Chase DOB 7-9-05
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