July 2

The SWO's report is not yet finished. We are waiting on the police. They opened a case, back in January when Moses A. was born, to search for his birth mother. There is a particular woman in question but she denies she is the mother. The thing is, the police haven't yet closed the case. We can't go to court until they close the case. Our SWO here in Balaka is trying to get them to close it – as simple as the police just saying, "case closed," so we can move on with the adoption. He seems fairly confident that they won't need to continue the search for the parents. (It's not like they're actually searching anyway. They probably did for a day back in January. They didn't "close the case" because there was no need to actually do so).  

 

The SWO came to our home at 7:30 this morning to inspect our house. After viewing mounds of clothes, toys, and a mountain of imported infant formula, he said we seemed to be very prepared for a child. The SWO has the power to decide when Moses A. can come home with us. He thinks he will give us permission by the end of the week. He would prefer for the police report to be finalized before this happens.

 

So… we are still waiting.

 

Meanwhile, we've asked our lawyer to try to secure a court date without the police and SWO reports. It can't hurt to try. The reason we're trying to rush things is so I can also appear before court. My presence doesn't seem to be mandatory, though it would be beneficial. It's looking less likely that we'll all come home together… but you never know. The tricky thing is, we need to change Dustin's ticket if he's to come home at a later date. And we'll just have to guess when things will be finished up. Hopefully we'll be given a court date soon so we can make a more informed guess.