[drell]

Hi my hubby and I are adopting our soon to be daughter soon I hope! All papers have been signed and my daughter has been
served. We are just waiting for the court date to be set.
This will all be taking place in IL. We have never done this
and I was just wondering what would it be like? I mean in
the court room. We are having to drive up from NC.
What will happen once we are there. This is a foster care
adoption. We have had our daughter since she was 6 months
old. She's 3 1/2 now.. so you see it's been a long time. Will
they make her sit with them or let her sit with us. She has never
seen or even talked to any of these people and is shy with
strangers. So I was just wondering. Our Laywer said the whole
thing would be over rather quickly.

Thanks for your time and advice!

Drell

[lambeausam]

It depends what county your adoption is being processed in. I have completed two adoption hearings in Cook County at the Daley Center. In both cases, the kids were taken to the sheriff's substation downstairs and served with the adoption notice. The deputy must serve the child with the papers, so be sure to allow your child to accept the papers without assistance. As soon as she has the papers, you can take them for safe-keeping. Afterwards, we went upstairs to a kid-friendly waiting room. When our family was called, we went into the courtroom. You stand as group in front of the judge. The judge asked the kids some questions - such as how old are you, what's your favorite color - mostly to put the child at ease and to carry conversation. Each of my boys was a toddler at the time of his adoption. The judge even let them play with the gavel. The judge then had a short conversation with me and offered congratulations. This part only lasted about 5 minutes. Cook County will not allow cameras in the courtroom, but if you are adopting in another county, you should probably check ahead of time for their camera policy. Also, you should allow 10-15 extra minutes to process through security. Make sure you don't have scissors, pocketknife, etc. with you or you won't make it past the front door.

Congratulations!

[Peggy]

In my state, we just went into what appeared to be a conference room. The judge did not wear robes, or use a gavel, and we all sat around a table. It was short and pleasant, and we took pictures afterwords.

[hockeycoachmomo]

I also adopted all three of my children at the Daley Center in Chicago. With the first one, we didn't even have any idea that we were adopting her that day. Our lawyer had called and told us to meet her at the Daley Center and to make sure my husband and I both came and that we brought Hannah with us. We thought this was just a meeting to talk about the adoption. We brought our, then, 9 year old son with us and we wore jeans and t-shirts, no camera, etc. When we got there, the lawyer brought us into the waiting room for the court room and started showing us all these papers, with Hannah's adoptive name, etc. We were so confused, then she said something like, "We'll go downstairs so they can serve Hannah and then a little while after that, you will go in to see the judge." I asked if we were adopting her today and when she said yes, I started to cry. More from disappointment than happiness! I was thrilled that the adoption was going through, but I wanted the rest of my kids there and special clothes on Hannah and relatives, etc. We were in a state of complete shock! When we were going down in the elevator to get the papers served, there was another foster mom there with her daughter and she hadn't known she was adopting her's that day, either! When we finally got into the courtroom, though, it was really cool. My husband had seen that one of his teachers from St. Rita High School was now a judge in the adoption court. He told our lawyer and she went back and asked if he could do the adoption. He wasn't there, but the judge who did end up doing it was from a rival school and so he joked and laughed with us about that. He let my son sit up there with him and put a dot after he signed his name. He told him that the adoption wasn't legal until Steven had put the dot and banged the gavel. It was so cute! Steven was so proud. He also told Steven about how several Bulls players had adopted kids in that same court room. Steven was a big Bulls fan at the time, so he was thrilled. I just couldn't help feeling bad that the other kids weren't there, too. As said before, you are not allowed to take pictures in the courtroom, or of the judge, but you can take them in the waiting room and halls.

For the next two, I was prepared! When we first got there, we again, talked to our lawyer in the kid's waiting room, then went downstairs to be served. In the Sheriff's Office, they gave all the kids junior deputy badges and let us go behind the counter to take pictures under the Cook County Sheriff's sign. One of our daughter's was only 7 months, so they just handed us her papers. Then we had to go back to the waiting room and wait, for a long time! We ended up being there about 3 hours, but it was a very busy adoption day. The other two judges that we had weren't as nice as the first one, and I wish now that I had requested him in advance. But the important thing is that they are adopted now, no matter how it turned out on adoption day!

[Gina Troup]

I'm from western PA. and when we adopted our son 2 years ago(he was 2 years old),we went to the couthouse and were shown to a small room to wait in until the judge was ready.We were then called into the coutroom and the judge came out in his black robe.The judge was so happy to be there because this was the counties first adoption in 5 years and it was the judges first adoption proceedings.My husband and I were each called up to "testify",give our names,ages,occupations,our soon to be adopted sons' name,etc.While I was on the stand our little guy was walking around the courtroom,sitting on the jury chairs and he came over to me and started yelling "mommy"!I was so embarrassed because I thought the judge would have a fit,but he just laughed and said to let the little guy have his fun!When we were done with our "testimony",we went back to our seats and the judge congratulated us and our 3 older sons and I started crying and so did our caseworker.Afterwards,we were permitted to stay in the coutroom and take pictures and talk to the judge.We even have a picture of our newest son in the judges chair,and pictures of the judge holding him.When we were finished in the courtroom the lawyer took us downstairs to file the paperwork for a new birth certificate and then we went out for breakfast to celebrate.I hope that your adoption day goes smoothly and as wonderful as ours did.Congratulations and good luck!