As we moved closer to the day that a decision had to be made about Isaiah, Lola was talking more and more like she was assuming that she would retain her parental rights. Her drug rehab counselors were giving her pep talks and her lawyer was apparently encouraging her. She would talk about these things in front of me as if I was disinterested in what was happening.
Some of her talk was clearly fantasy. For instance, she told me that she was going to be trained to be an ultrasound technician for a hospital. She had not finished high school and had not ever had a job.
It also became apparent that her drug rehab people were overlooking her faults. They had put her in an apartment and were paying the rent. One of the conditions of this arrangement was that she not have any men staying there. When the child advocate volunteer inspected her place, she said that she had a boyfriend staying there. Also, I was beginning to suspect that she was using again, based upon her behavior. I did not think that they were checking her for drug use very carefully. It seemed that their main motivation was having good reports for her.
At the next court hearing, Lola showed up looking bad. She had also gained quite a bit of weight, raising speculation from everyone, including the judge, that she was pregnant again. Her lawyer announced that they intended to ask for a jury trial to contest Lola’s parental rights. The judge then made a very wise decision. She ordered mandatory mediation between the parties prior to the trial.
Nancy and I could not help getting a little nervous. The lawyer that had been appointed for Isaiah and the lawyer for the state did not want to go to trial. It was as if they just didn’t want the hassle. They also told me that we should think about offering a compromise to Lola to avoid the risk of a trial. That was lawyer talk that really meant that they were trying to scare me enough that I would give something up to Lola. We absolutely wanted to be free from any responsibility that included personal contact.
At this point, we were ready for the mediation meeting and Round Five.
The Fight for Isaiah, Round Two
The Fight for Isaiah, Round Three