Mediation Today

Mom was a no-show, which did not surprise anyone, not even her attorney was surprised.

Dad was there, they flew him up from out of state. He did not surrender, which is also no surprise. But, he was able to get some info from us, was able to get some understanding of the legal process, was able to GIVE us some info about him and the situation.

It was very emotional - for everyone. The CW was in tears, Lil J's attorney was in tears, we were in tears, dad was in tears - you get the idea.

Learned some very personal things about dad, and also some random things that will allow us to talk more casually to Lil J about him (where he grew up, what his favorite sports team is, what he likes to do, etc)

We are pretty confident that dad will do an identified surrender, maybe even in the next week or so. It is a lot for him.

He takes a DNA test, proves to be the father, gets a 20 page medical form to fill out, advised about TPR trial and / or surrender, gets hit with thousands of child support bills, etc, all within about a month. It's a lot to take in.

Since mom was a no show, we just talked with dad. We told him we would keep him updated with photos and he said he would write a letter that maybe would say a little more about himself, and that wehn Lil J is old enough, he could read it himself.

I think we had really good communicaiton with dad. So, I guess we made SOME progress today.