Help Bring Home Baby Gregory
Donation protected
Hello All ,
My name is Diana. I've got a very unique & MESSED up situation . Myself & my husband ( Clint ) of 10 years , for the past 4 months have been preparing to raise 1 of our family members baby boy once born. For months she has been sending us baby bump pictures , ultra sound pictures as well as her Probation Drug test results proving she has been clean since being pregnant. Before this beautiful baby was born we ALL already loved him SO Much !She addressed us as "mommy & daddy" the whole time. As many of you are aware , for us to have our own baby we would have to do a fertality treatment. In which costs over 25K & doesn't even gaurantee the first or even 2nd time. We tried for 13 years with no luck . So when we recieved the call about this baby boy it was a HUGE blessing . Clint & myself FINALLY have our dream coming true . Our dream has always been to have a baby or atleast adopt to experiance raising a child from birth together. It's just the timing was not right at all , but when is it ever?? I've been unemployed due to helping my mother care for her mother , my grandmother. Mom has serious back problems & couldn't handle it alone. Grandma isn't/wasn't doing well. I had a beautiful 3 carat custom cross necklace that I've CHERISHED for many, many years. I sold that to help with buying baby items & to be able to make sure baby boy has the perfect nursery. Not that Clint couldn't handle this alone , he does make good money. I just wanted to take some stress off his shoulders w/everything else going on , on top of this. With that being said we've got just about everything needed to care for our beautiful baby boy for probably about the next 2 years as well as a beautiful Nemo nursery. So as I was saying we have been prepping for baby boy & 4 months is not long at all to prepare for a baby , Especially there only being 1 income . God ALWAYS sees us through though !! We all decided that we weren't doing gifts for Christmas this year due to baby boys due date originally being December the 25th , We were getting the wonderful gift of life, our little Christmas miracle. What could seriously top that??? Absolutely NOTHING. So fast forward a little. Our beautiful baby boy was born December the 17th @ 3:17 AM at Jewish Barnes Hospital in St.Louis , Missouri . As soon as we got the call we headed out from Nashville. We ended up having to rent a car because just our luck our vehicle broke down , then just a week before we had to replace 2 tires @ $200 each . So we arrive shortly after he is born , we spent every minute with him until they kicked us out each night @ 11PM. When we left baby boy would go back to the nursery . For the next 3 days we cared for our beautiful boy in every way . From feeding him, changing his diapers/ clothes , comforting his every wimper/cry any & everything to care for him , we did . We instantly fell in love ! He is perfect in EVERY way . Fast forward to discharge day . Everything had been going great , baby boy was doing great !! So we get him dressed & ready to go home . The nurse turns to us & asks us what we were doing? We reply we are ready to get out of here & get back to TN for Christmas. The nurse then replies , " No one has spoken to you all." While looking at the birth mom. Birth mom replied, " No." The nurse then replies, " Well baby boy is staying here." Instantly our hearts shatter . We ask WHY?? The nurse sends in a social worker. She then tells us that baby boy has Methamphetamines in his system. That in the state of Missouri if this happens baby is automatically taken into states custody . Which is understandable . We were furious though, Furious that mom used while pregnant. ( 1 Relapse no drugs detected in mother) Furious that we had not expected this at all nor were we prepared!! We had NO clue ! So we leave the hospital without our baby . Hardest thing we've ever done ! So we spoke with the social worker. She advised us that we should probably get an attorney because the situation gets worse, Puzzled & thinking HOW could it get worse , we ask what's going on . Come to find out the birth mom ( a member of OUR family)
while in jail had been in touch with another couple . She had been telling them she was CONSIDERING adopting to them . Long story short she got them for a couple thousand for living expenses. From what birth mom states , there is an attorney that works with the jail & pregnant women . She stated that all the pregnant women contact this attorney , whom then puts the women in touch with "adoptive parents" . That all the girls would get in contact with couples wanting a baby , SAY they're considering adoption & her words exactly , " Then BAM a week later you have $50 on your books & continue to do so until released. Then they never contact these people again. NOTHING about this sounds legit. Not even the attorney doing this. In which happens to be the attorney for the other couple. We knew NOTHING about this, and we do feel awful for the other couple as well. He is OUR family though, our blood. We all want more than anything to keep him within our family.He has brothers! The birth mother & father of baby boy have both signed their rights over to us at our 1st court hearing on 12/22/16. Since we live out of state we couldn't leave with our baby . In Missouri they don't do temp emergency custody of minors. They do emergency foster care in which we are not foster licensed. The other couple is . They then tried to take baby boy home under "foster terms'. Our attorney put a stop to that & currently our baby boy is in foster care. Our court date was continued to Jan 3rd, 2017 . Just to walk into to court with an attorney on the 22nd cost us $1000 even. We were shooting for temp guardianship , then perm guardianship but they say we can't do it that way? That we have to do a full on adoption . Which is fine but the problem is we now have to fight it out in court against this other couple that I already feel horrible for . They're pretty much in the same shoes as us. I hate the whole situation. It's shredding our hearts , I can only imagine how they feel as well. So not only do we have to have an attorney to fight for custody , we have to obtain an attorney that specializes in adoption , in which we have obtained . So now we have unexpected outrageous adoption fee's. I just don't understand WHY we even have to fight it out in court when 1st of all we are family, 2ndly BOTH parents have signed their rights over to us . Makes NO SENSE to me at all but Missouri does things so differently than done here in TN , The day we went to leave the hospital we thought we had covered EVERY legal step needed to legally bring our baby home. Our plan when we left on Friday the 16th was to watch our baby be born, spend all the time we could with him in the hospital then hopefully by Monday no later than Tuesday head back to TN with our son . So EVERYTHING outside of this plan was a total smack in the face. NOT expected nor planned at all . Instead of leaving Monday with our baby . We spend the day on the phone with attornies & case workers. Figuring out the next step. We then have to extend our car rental for another 4 days due to a hearing being set for 12/22/16. We just knew then , after court we would be on our way home with our baby. Nope , court was a mess, we never even got to speak to the judge nor did our attorney get our full story before trying to make our case. I feel like we didn't even have a hearing honestly & that we weren't treated fairly . At this time our attorney has started our adoption paper work for our beautiful baby . Until finalized we can't leave state with our baby. This could take 30-45 days from what our attorney says. She wants another $1000 payment on our next court date , Jan the 3rd. If court is not continued & a decision is made that day to approve our adoption then the total will be around $8500 for her time . If court is continued & this other couple decides to keep fighting she said we would be looking at a lot more. Around $12,000 total or more even. This is where we need everyones help. After getting a nursery together , baby clothes & everything else needed to care for our baby , renting a car & hotel . On top of preparing for baby, our car has broke down , we've had to replace 2 expensive tires, our house flooded due to a busted pipe which cost $1000 deductible & me currently not working, we have exhausted ALL our funds. Had everything went as planned , we would of never had to ask for help. We would be done with all this & would not be in this financial rut that we are in . It's not that we can't afford to raise a child, it's just the timing seriously couldn't be any worse financially . So here we are swallowing our pride & asking for help. We can't just walk away from our beautiful baby w/o atleast trying something . He has our hearts!! Everyone suggest we start a Go Fund me so here we are. We need to raise $1000 by Jan 3rd in which I realize is not a lot of time , but I have a lot of hope left in me some how . Our attorney has agreed to work with us on the rest & to allow payments. So this is strictly for attorney fee's . Nothing more, nothing less. Any amount would be GREATLY appreciated . Nothing is to small & every bit will help tremendously . We will be VERY thankful for ANY amount donated . I can't even describe in words how thankful we would be .... In the meantime though , I do plan on updating as everything takes place. The attorney we have obtained is Deborah Crouse Cobb in Collinsville, IL. Since IL is where the birth mom resides court will be held there. I've got paper work to verify & back everything I have stated above. I'm sure the attorney would not mind verifying this as well. Altho I don't know how much she can get into it due to policy but she can verify & we have no problem having all information released to whomever may want to verify this . I'm trying to figure out the best way at the moment to upload pictures of my proof without releasing to much information on the other parties involved , I don't want to break any privacy laws if any , I don't know. I apologize for this being so long & pray that you have made it this far. I just didn't want to leave anything out ........ Thank you all in advance & if you can't donate we would be just as happy if you keep us in your prayers. Thanks again !!!
Diana & Clint Parker
My name is Diana. I've got a very unique & MESSED up situation . Myself & my husband ( Clint ) of 10 years , for the past 4 months have been preparing to raise 1 of our family members baby boy once born. For months she has been sending us baby bump pictures , ultra sound pictures as well as her Probation Drug test results proving she has been clean since being pregnant. Before this beautiful baby was born we ALL already loved him SO Much !She addressed us as "mommy & daddy" the whole time. As many of you are aware , for us to have our own baby we would have to do a fertality treatment. In which costs over 25K & doesn't even gaurantee the first or even 2nd time. We tried for 13 years with no luck . So when we recieved the call about this baby boy it was a HUGE blessing . Clint & myself FINALLY have our dream coming true . Our dream has always been to have a baby or atleast adopt to experiance raising a child from birth together. It's just the timing was not right at all , but when is it ever?? I've been unemployed due to helping my mother care for her mother , my grandmother. Mom has serious back problems & couldn't handle it alone. Grandma isn't/wasn't doing well. I had a beautiful 3 carat custom cross necklace that I've CHERISHED for many, many years. I sold that to help with buying baby items & to be able to make sure baby boy has the perfect nursery. Not that Clint couldn't handle this alone , he does make good money. I just wanted to take some stress off his shoulders w/everything else going on , on top of this. With that being said we've got just about everything needed to care for our beautiful baby boy for probably about the next 2 years as well as a beautiful Nemo nursery. So as I was saying we have been prepping for baby boy & 4 months is not long at all to prepare for a baby , Especially there only being 1 income . God ALWAYS sees us through though !! We all decided that we weren't doing gifts for Christmas this year due to baby boys due date originally being December the 25th , We were getting the wonderful gift of life, our little Christmas miracle. What could seriously top that??? Absolutely NOTHING. So fast forward a little. Our beautiful baby boy was born December the 17th @ 3:17 AM at Jewish Barnes Hospital in St.Louis , Missouri . As soon as we got the call we headed out from Nashville. We ended up having to rent a car because just our luck our vehicle broke down , then just a week before we had to replace 2 tires @ $200 each . So we arrive shortly after he is born , we spent every minute with him until they kicked us out each night @ 11PM. When we left baby boy would go back to the nursery . For the next 3 days we cared for our beautiful boy in every way . From feeding him, changing his diapers/ clothes , comforting his every wimper/cry any & everything to care for him , we did . We instantly fell in love ! He is perfect in EVERY way . Fast forward to discharge day . Everything had been going great , baby boy was doing great !! So we get him dressed & ready to go home . The nurse turns to us & asks us what we were doing? We reply we are ready to get out of here & get back to TN for Christmas. The nurse then replies , " No one has spoken to you all." While looking at the birth mom. Birth mom replied, " No." The nurse then replies, " Well baby boy is staying here." Instantly our hearts shatter . We ask WHY?? The nurse sends in a social worker. She then tells us that baby boy has Methamphetamines in his system. That in the state of Missouri if this happens baby is automatically taken into states custody . Which is understandable . We were furious though, Furious that mom used while pregnant. ( 1 Relapse no drugs detected in mother) Furious that we had not expected this at all nor were we prepared!! We had NO clue ! So we leave the hospital without our baby . Hardest thing we've ever done ! So we spoke with the social worker. She advised us that we should probably get an attorney because the situation gets worse, Puzzled & thinking HOW could it get worse , we ask what's going on . Come to find out the birth mom ( a member of OUR family)
while in jail had been in touch with another couple . She had been telling them she was CONSIDERING adopting to them . Long story short she got them for a couple thousand for living expenses. From what birth mom states , there is an attorney that works with the jail & pregnant women . She stated that all the pregnant women contact this attorney , whom then puts the women in touch with "adoptive parents" . That all the girls would get in contact with couples wanting a baby , SAY they're considering adoption & her words exactly , " Then BAM a week later you have $50 on your books & continue to do so until released. Then they never contact these people again. NOTHING about this sounds legit. Not even the attorney doing this. In which happens to be the attorney for the other couple. We knew NOTHING about this, and we do feel awful for the other couple as well. He is OUR family though, our blood. We all want more than anything to keep him within our family.He has brothers! The birth mother & father of baby boy have both signed their rights over to us at our 1st court hearing on 12/22/16. Since we live out of state we couldn't leave with our baby . In Missouri they don't do temp emergency custody of minors. They do emergency foster care in which we are not foster licensed. The other couple is . They then tried to take baby boy home under "foster terms'. Our attorney put a stop to that & currently our baby boy is in foster care. Our court date was continued to Jan 3rd, 2017 . Just to walk into to court with an attorney on the 22nd cost us $1000 even. We were shooting for temp guardianship , then perm guardianship but they say we can't do it that way? That we have to do a full on adoption . Which is fine but the problem is we now have to fight it out in court against this other couple that I already feel horrible for . They're pretty much in the same shoes as us. I hate the whole situation. It's shredding our hearts , I can only imagine how they feel as well. So not only do we have to have an attorney to fight for custody , we have to obtain an attorney that specializes in adoption , in which we have obtained . So now we have unexpected outrageous adoption fee's. I just don't understand WHY we even have to fight it out in court when 1st of all we are family, 2ndly BOTH parents have signed their rights over to us . Makes NO SENSE to me at all but Missouri does things so differently than done here in TN , The day we went to leave the hospital we thought we had covered EVERY legal step needed to legally bring our baby home. Our plan when we left on Friday the 16th was to watch our baby be born, spend all the time we could with him in the hospital then hopefully by Monday no later than Tuesday head back to TN with our son . So EVERYTHING outside of this plan was a total smack in the face. NOT expected nor planned at all . Instead of leaving Monday with our baby . We spend the day on the phone with attornies & case workers. Figuring out the next step. We then have to extend our car rental for another 4 days due to a hearing being set for 12/22/16. We just knew then , after court we would be on our way home with our baby. Nope , court was a mess, we never even got to speak to the judge nor did our attorney get our full story before trying to make our case. I feel like we didn't even have a hearing honestly & that we weren't treated fairly . At this time our attorney has started our adoption paper work for our beautiful baby . Until finalized we can't leave state with our baby. This could take 30-45 days from what our attorney says. She wants another $1000 payment on our next court date , Jan the 3rd. If court is not continued & a decision is made that day to approve our adoption then the total will be around $8500 for her time . If court is continued & this other couple decides to keep fighting she said we would be looking at a lot more. Around $12,000 total or more even. This is where we need everyones help. After getting a nursery together , baby clothes & everything else needed to care for our baby , renting a car & hotel . On top of preparing for baby, our car has broke down , we've had to replace 2 expensive tires, our house flooded due to a busted pipe which cost $1000 deductible & me currently not working, we have exhausted ALL our funds. Had everything went as planned , we would of never had to ask for help. We would be done with all this & would not be in this financial rut that we are in . It's not that we can't afford to raise a child, it's just the timing seriously couldn't be any worse financially . So here we are swallowing our pride & asking for help. We can't just walk away from our beautiful baby w/o atleast trying something . He has our hearts!! Everyone suggest we start a Go Fund me so here we are. We need to raise $1000 by Jan 3rd in which I realize is not a lot of time , but I have a lot of hope left in me some how . Our attorney has agreed to work with us on the rest & to allow payments. So this is strictly for attorney fee's . Nothing more, nothing less. Any amount would be GREATLY appreciated . Nothing is to small & every bit will help tremendously . We will be VERY thankful for ANY amount donated . I can't even describe in words how thankful we would be .... In the meantime though , I do plan on updating as everything takes place. The attorney we have obtained is Deborah Crouse Cobb in Collinsville, IL. Since IL is where the birth mom resides court will be held there. I've got paper work to verify & back everything I have stated above. I'm sure the attorney would not mind verifying this as well. Altho I don't know how much she can get into it due to policy but she can verify & we have no problem having all information released to whomever may want to verify this . I'm trying to figure out the best way at the moment to upload pictures of my proof without releasing to much information on the other parties involved , I don't want to break any privacy laws if any , I don't know. I apologize for this being so long & pray that you have made it this far. I just didn't want to leave anything out ........ Thank you all in advance & if you can't donate we would be just as happy if you keep us in your prayers. Thanks again !!!
Diana & Clint Parker
Organizer
Diana Parker
Organizer
Mount Juliet, TN
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