The next three weeks

In three weeks we go back to court. In fact, our original June hearing has been removed and we are now having a Ross Hearing to determine the fathers of C.C. and her sister. A Ross Hearing is a Kansas thing named after a case in which the courts determined that a paternity test was not in the best interest of the child. So, in short, my husband has to prove that he is in fact, C.C.'s father by his efforts to maintain a relationship with her over the past ten years. Luckily, we have years and years of photos and documents showing that my husband has acted as a parent. In addition, we have emails and letters signed by her mother stating that he is her father; however, she will contest it unfortunately. She's upset that it has even come to this. She will say that her estranged husband is not the father, but that C.C.'s sister's father has been more of a father to her than my husband. We are preparing for that, but we are also preparing for her to come home with us. Foster care is still an option, but we're hoping it won't be. We have a good attorney who is moving things along quickly and we feel confident that we will bring C.C. home. We have to think about many things including where C.C. will go to school. We live near a middle school, but I work for a school district in a neighboring city. We are thinking of having her go to school in my school district so that she'll be close by. I also have relationships with many of the counselors and teachers in that district. Ultimately, it'll be her decision. We just want for her to attend the best school for her, and to have a good experience. We also need to think about a name change for her. She currently has her mom's estranged husband's last name. Logically, we would most likely change it to our last name. However, she has talked about hyphenating her last name with her mother's maiden name and our last name. She also has her mother's husband's middle name, so she may want to abandon that as well. I have a feeling her "new" name will be quite different than her old name, but again it has to be her decision. Continue to pray for us and for C.C. as we head to court. Pray that she can make it through these next few weeks and that we can too.