We had a party for friends and family. But I never refer to her as my step-daughter. Order in the Court As an attorney, I handled Brenda s adoption proceeding myself. While family law was not my area of practice or expertise, I ended up handling other adoptions on occasion, usually step-parent adoptions. Working with adoptions was a singularly joyous experience for me, even more so because it was so different from the usual experience of our legal system.
Adoptions are different.
Where all sides consent to the adoption, the atmosphere in the courtroom is downright jovial. The child gets to sit on the judge s desk. The judge smiles and even laughs. The family gets someone to take photos of the event. The bottom line is that everyone senses that there s something fundamentally good and restorative happening.