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“The other three were
placed in foster care and after a period of time the foster
care family considered adoption for just two of the
children,” says Patrick Lockett. Makayla and Anthony
Lockett, then 15 and 12 years old respectively, approached
their grandparents with their concerns about the children
being split up and the prospect of the last name change the
foster family had proposed.
“I chose as my new mission
in life to adopt my grandchildren, any way or cost,” recalls
Patrick Lockett. “We retained an attorney and we challenged
the Children Service Board system and, then, we finally had
to go to arbitration against CSB advisors and their many
attorneys, staff and directors.
The grandparents accepted
a six-month trial period with the children in November 2008
and finalized the adoption in June, 2009.
How did adoption work out
for these children?
The oldest, Eleesha D.
Lockett, who was not formally adopted but ended up in the
care of the grandparents, is now 24 year old and just
graduated from The University of Toledo with a bachelor’s
degree in Asian Studies, a fluency in Japanese and a 3.9
grade point average. Eleesha plans to use her academic
background to travel the world.
Makayla A. Lockett, 21,
also just graduated from UT with a degree in linguistics,
fluency in several languages and a 3.3 GPA. She also plans
to go abroad and use her background to research and document
dead and dying languages.
Anthony J. Lockett, 18,
will be graduating with honors from Central Catholic High
School later this month. He will attend UT in the fall with
the assistance of a number of scholarships.
Ayden M. Lockett is in the
fifth grade at Rosary Cathedral, playing basketball and
earning “excellent grades,” says his grandfather.
So how did that adoption
work out?
Not too bad. Not bad at
all. |
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