When our letter came from the biological mother and she only addressed one of the three children, and she had already broken the mediation agreement by moving and not notifying us I started doing some research to see what our legal obligations are.
We were very surprised when we learned that in the state of Texas that mediation agreements are not enforceable, they are more of an honor agreement. We were not planning on stopping our end of the agreement after the first update letter but honestly I wanted to see if we had to if things continued the way they have been so far. From what we have been told the mediation agreement is unenforceable because in the state of Texas open adoptions are not recognized as enforceable.
Well we have not heard from our kids’ biological mother and it is time again to send an update as per our mediation agreement. I was quite surprised when the letter came back with a forwarding address on it. How often does this lady move? I resent it out to the address that came on the letter and got a signature card back.
With this letter we did not get any replies and that was ok. I really was not expecting one but in a way I was hoping for the kids’ sake that she would have so we could have let them read them when they got older.
A few months later we sent out the next update and wouldn’t you know it; the letter was returned with no forwarding address. This time I did a little research and located via the internet her phone number. I blocked my home phone number and called her number. The phone was answered by a lady who said that the birth mother was her kids’ baby sitter. Now maybe other people would not be as picky as I was with who watched my children but I would be sure the caregiver did not have a felony criminal record for injury to a child. Again that is just me. The lady said that the biological mother would be home in a few hours and that I should call back then.