G.A.L Meeting

Julian also had a Guardian Ad Litem or G.A.L. She by definition was an individual appointed to represent the best interests of a child (Julian) or incapacitated person for the purpose of a legal procedure. She was appointed by the courts to represent Julian's best interests and to insure that he had a voice in the legal proceedings. We hadn't met or even talked on the phone the first month we had Julian in our home. I had left messages with her but had never gotten a call back. I thought it was strange she had not made it to our home for a visit when she was the only one besides my husband and I that were suppose to have Julian's best interest at heart.

It wasn't until the middle of June, almost six weeks after we had become a family, that we got a call from her. She wanted to know when we could get together to meet one another and she wanted to check on Julian. We settled on the last week in June because it worked for both her schedule and our crazy schedule. When I was on the phone with her I expected a bunch of questions about Julian and how he was doing but instead she just set up the appointment and then told me she looked forward to meeting us and the conversation was over.

Once again another person had entered our world that didn't really seem to care about Julian's well being. He was just another case that had to be taken care of. I wanted to shout from the mountain tops that JULIAN WAS DOING AMAZING! He was sitting up and he was talking non stop! I wanted them to know that he was a happy baby and he loved to play and listen to music. I needed them to acknowledge him as a person and not just another number on their case load or a baby fix. But instead it was all business to these people.

When the Gardian Ad Litem showed up at our home she was very friendly. I thought she would want to see our home and where Julian lived but instead she came in and sat in the living room as Julian and I played on the floor. The first five minutes of the meeting were FINALLY about Julian. She asked me questions about his health, physical therapy and eating habits. I gave her the highlight show of our last month and half together. I told her he hadn't had any health concerns in the last month. I gave her the cliff notes version of physical therapy and then even showed her some of his best moves.....and when it came to eating well Julian was never a bad eater and his little chubby thighs could tell the story.

As I talked she wrote notes and listened. When I was done I had Julian in my lap and she looked down at him and said, "Hey there Julian. Where is your mommy?" and without a second thought Julian looked up at me and put his hand on my face. It was the first time anyone at social services had called me mommy but that isn't what made the tears form in my eyes. It was Julian's reaction to the question. He knew I was mommy. As I tried to pull myself together I looked to the GAL for approval and she smiled. I knew it then....she thought I was mommy too and it was an amazing feeling!

She said," Your doing a great job with him. He seems so happy and he obviously loves you. The last time I saw him was when he was in his casts and he cried the entire visit." Her encouraging words warmed my heart so far the visit with her wasn't anything like Betty Rose. As I listened to her compliment me about Julian I couldn't help but be full of questions. And so with her bringing up his casts I began to ask questions about the case.

I told her about Betty Rose wanting to reunite the family and I asked her if that was a possibility. She said," There is always a possibility of reuniting the family. And this family would have a lot of work to do before they would ever be reunited. They will be put on a treatment plan and all the criteria must be met before there is any talk about reunification. And I want you to know I will fight to keep Julian out of their home until we figure out without a doubt who caused his injuries."

And with those words I stopped holding my breath. I was finally talking to someone that had the same concerns I did. What actually happened to my baby in those weeks his little bones were broken? Not only how did the injuries happen but who caused them? How can reunification be a consideration at this point when we haven't even caught the bad guys yet? Sure bio mom and dad blame a babysitter but the police didn't think it was the babysitter. So now what? I was just relieved she had the same concerns I did.

As we talked about Julian's safety and how I was concerned about all this talk of reunification when we weren't even sure of how the injuries were caused, the GAL dropped another bomb on me. She said," Julian's bio mom was pregnant again. And now Julian isn't our only concern but this baby they are expecting could also be in danger." I couldn't believe my ears. She is pregnant with baby #3! What was God's plan here? They already had one dead infant. Then Julian's injuries and now another baby? I was sick at the thought of them conceiving another child. She said,"When I talked to mom about the current pregnancy said she got pregnant to help her stop thinking about Julian." I was appalled at the idea of replacing Julian with a new baby. They didn't deserve to get the short time they had with him much less be reunited with him. How could a child be replaced especially my little Julian? And this new baby just added another obstacle to this case.

Within 45 minutes I had been updated by the GAL and she had all the information she needed from me and we were saying our good byes. I thanked her for her for coming out and asked her to keep me in the loop with any of her findings. She agreed and told me to keep up the good work with Julian and she left.

As I fed Julian his bottle that afternoon and rocked him to sleep I began to hope that maybe the bios would replace Julian with this new baby and they would walk away from him. As I sang Julian's favorite song, Jesus Loves Me, I asked God to watch over us and to please keep our family together.