Brett wins temporary custody of Austin

Brett wins temporary custody of Austin Elizabeth when a private, disputed account of Sanquita Bell’s last wish is joined by a document Sanquita signed weeks before her death. The hearing turns on the difference between a promise Brett says Sanquita made in a hospital room and written evidence the court can examine: Sanquita’s notarized request names Brett, her best friend and homebound teacher, as the person she wants to receive sole custody of her child.

Background: a bond built through care

Brett’s claim grows out of an established relationship with Sanquita, not a sudden decision at the hospital. When Sanquita was in a safe place, Brett offered practical help; Sanquita asked her to help her earn a diploma so that her baby would know its mother was smart. Brett agreed and brought a chemistry book. Their exchange joined education to the future Sanquita hoped to have with her child, even as Brett sensed that Sanquita spoke as though she might not live to tell the baby about herself.

Their connection also took shape through ordinary acts of support. At Thanksgiving, Brett prepared a meal and brought it to Joshua House, where Sanquita was waiting at the door. Later, after Sanquita’s saved money was stolen, Brett offered to find her a small safe. These details establish the friendship and care behind the role Sanquita would name in her written request. Brett was Sanquita’s homebound teacher, but their relationship had also become one of mutual trust and personal attachment.

Before the hearing, Sanquita had asked Brett directly to take her baby. With what Brett describes as great effort, Sanquita lifted her face and pleaded for Brett to care for the child. Brett resisted the request at first, answering that Sanquita would recover. The plea nevertheless made the prospect of raising the baby immediate: after Sanquita died, Brett spoke to Austin and promised to become her mother, acknowledging that she was new to parenthood while committing herself to making the child’s life safe and happy.

The dispute over Sanquita’s last wish

The evidence is complicated by Sanquita’s medical record. In a meeting with social worker Kirsten Schertzing, Brett explains her relationship with Sanquita and recounts the request. Kirsten points out that the chart says Sanquita lapsed into a coma after her C-section and that no one else reported her conscious during the thirteen hours before her death. Brett maintains that Sanquita woke on the day she delivered the baby and spoke to her. Kirsten does not treat Brett’s belief as decisive; she stresses that the court’s judgment, rather than her own, will determine the outcome.

The possibility of a competing family claim adds to the uncertainty. Kirsten tells Brett that Tia Robinson came to see her that morning, describing Tia as coherent and well behaved. She declines to say what Tia told her and warns that courts often rule in favor of family. The encounter leaves Brett facing the possibility that her relationship with Sanquita, however close, may not be enough to establish her right to raise the child.

At the hearing, Brett is asked whether anyone witnessed Sanquita tell her to take the baby. She answers no: the two of them were alone. She adds that Sanquita had earlier spoken to Jean Anderson at Joshua House. The question sharpens the weakness in Brett’s account as presented in court: the crucial hospital request has no direct witness besides Brett, while the medical record appears to contradict her recollection of Sanquita’s consciousness.

Jean Anderson’s document

As the hearing approaches a decision, Jean arrives while Brett is sitting beside Brad Midar, afraid that the child’s life is about to take a devastating turn. Jean does not take a seat among the spectators. In a wool suit and sneakers, with the back of her hair matted, she walks straight to Judge Garcia, whispers to him, and hands him a paper from her purse. The judge studies it before calling the counsel to the bench.

The document changes the case. Judge Garcia announces that Sanquita’s request was written and notarized, and that it is dated March 5, several weeks before her death. It identifies Sanquita as being of sound mind and records her intention for her unborn child should the child outlive her. In the statement, Sanquita names Brett as her best friend and homebound teacher and expresses her desire that Brett receive sole custody.

The written request answers the central evidentiary problem without making Brett’s account of the final hospital conversation any less personal: the court now has evidence, made before Sanquita died, of the same choice. The moment also reframes Jean’s earlier connection to Sanquita. Jean had been named as someone Sanquita spoke to before the hospital plea; now she brings forward the document that can speak for Sanquita in court.

Temporary custody and its limits

Judge Garcia grants Brett temporary custody until adoption procedures are finalized, then adjourns the court. The ruling is an immediate victory, not the completed adoption: it gives Brett legal custody in the interim while leaving the adoption process ahead. Brett sobs with relief, but does not stay to celebrate with Brad and Jean. She goes straight to the hospital to see Austin.

The hearing’s decisive turn is from a contested memory to a notarized statement with a date and Sanquita’s signature. Brett’s promise to care for the baby has moral force throughout the case, but the court’s temporary order follows the arrival of a document that makes Sanquita’s wishes legible within the hearing. The result preserves the relationship Sanquita chose while marking the difference between accepting responsibility in private and securing legal authority to act on it.