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It was April, 2002 when Helen consented to Vitali's adoption by me.in the therapist's office. It took until August 30, 2002 for her to sign the official Consent that I would submitt with my Petition for Adoption. Unbeknownst to me, Helen's boyfriend was dragging down the process by making demand after demand about Vitali's care and upbringing. While I didn't have any reservations about having him baptized as a Catholic (I'm an Anglican) and several other minor issues, I did have a problem with the requirement that he should attend a school located on the other side of the city. I was as patient as I could be about this for quite a while, making the points that it made no sense for him to attend a school so far away and questioning the transportation issue. I asked the boyfriend to share in the 45 minute drive everyday and he suggested that my friend might help. In other words, he wanted Vitali to attend this particular school but didn't want to assist in getting him there and back. One suggestion was that I should let Vitali ride the train alone to get to school. I nixed that one right away. The thought of an 11 year old child riding through the city on a commuter train at 7am and returning after dark just made my blood boil. However, I kept a cool head and didn't make it a big case. I figured cool heads would prevail over time. Well, they did. After several months, Helen called to tell me she just wanted to get this iadoption completed and she wanted to do whatever was in Vitali's best interest. That admission got us working on the agreement. She signed the Consent and I submitted the Petition. By law, she had 30 days to back out on the Consent. That day was September 30, 2002. As it came and passed, I reminded Vitali and he seemed to settle down for the first time in months. Now, I figured, we could get back to our jobs as Dad and Son. |
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