Brett adopts Austin

Brett Bohlinger’s adoption of Austin Elizabeth turns a promise made to a dying friend into a legally recognized family bond. The process moves from Brett’s account of Sanquita Bell’s last wish, disputed in a custody hearing, to a notarized declaration that secures temporary custody and, after weeks of paperwork, a completed adoption.

The Promise and Its Legal Test

Brett’s claim rests on her relationship with Sanquita, her friend and homebound teacher, and on Sanquita’s wish that Brett raise the baby. The claim is challenged because Sanquita died after giving birth and Brett says Sanquita regained consciousness only briefly to express that wish. At a meeting with social worker Kirsten Schertzing, Brett learns that the medical chart records Sanquita lapsing into a coma after her C-section and shows no one reporting her conscious during the thirteen hours before her death except Brett. Kirsten notes that a relative, Ms. Robinson, has visited and cautions that courts often rule in favor of family. The conversation makes clear that Brett’s conviction about what Sanquita wanted is not, by itself, enough to settle custody.

At the hearing, Brett acknowledges that nobody else was in the room when Sanquita told her to keep the baby. She adds that Sanquita had previously expressed her wishes to Jean Anderson at Joshua House. The distinction matters: Brett can testify to the final conversation, but she cannot offer another witness to it. Her account is therefore vulnerable to being treated as a private assertion rather than an instruction the court can verify.

The Notarized Declaration

The decisive evidence emerges when Judge Garcia produces a notarized statement dated March fifth, several weeks before Sanquita’s death. It identifies Sanquita as being of sound mind and sets out her intention for her unborn child: if the child outlived her, Brett, described as her best friend and homebound teacher, should receive sole custody. The document gives formal, written support to the caregiving choice Brett has been defending through her personal account.

Judge Garcia grants Brett temporary custody until adoption procedures are finalized. The ruling does not yet complete the adoption, but it establishes the immediate legal arrangement Sanquita had requested and gives Brett custody while the remaining process proceeds. Brett sobs with relief. Rather than celebrating with Brad Midar and Jean, she goes directly to the hospital to see Austin, whose neonatal-unit room becomes the next destination after the courtroom decision.

Finalization and Family

The adoption is not completed at the hearing. Weeks of paperwork follow the temporary-custody ruling; when Brett later confirms the outcome, she says it became final just the previous week. That brief account marks the shift from a provisional court order to an established adoptive relationship, without detailing the intervening paperwork or procedures.

In a later conversation with Garrett Taylor, Brett explains that the child is Sanquita’s and that Sanquita died the previous spring. Garrett asks whether Austin has been adopted, and Brett confirms that the adoption is final. His response is warm, and their exchange treats Austin’s place in Brett’s life as a settled fact rather than an unresolved legal claim.

Significance

The adoption’s turning point is not simply Brett’s testimony or the court’s sympathy: it is Sanquita’s declaration, made before her death and notarized, that translates her stated intention into evidence the court can act on. The process distinguishes the emotional certainty of Brett’s promise from the legal steps required to carry it out. Temporary custody gives Brett immediate responsibility; finalization, reached after weeks of paperwork, makes that responsibility an enduring family relationship.