Brett Bohlinger’s formal adoption of Austin Elizabeth makes permanent the family bond Brett had promised to honor after Sanquita Bell’s death. The outcome follows a custody dispute in which Brett’s account of Sanquita’s final wish is challenged, then supported by a notarized statement naming Brett as the person Sanquita wanted to raise her child.

The promise and the caregiving bond

Before Austin’s adoption, Brett had built a relationship with Sanquita as her homebound teacher. When Brett visits her in a safe place, Sanquita says she wants help earning her diploma so her baby will know her mother was smart. Brett agrees and brings a chemistry book. The exchange gives their connection a practical shape: alongside concern for Sanquita’s health, Brett helps her pursue an education and prepare for motherhood.

Brett’s care also extends beyond lessons. At Thanksgiving, she brings a meal to Joshua House, where Sanquita is waiting at the door. Later, Sanquita dies after giving birth. Brett says that, on the evening of the delivery, Sanquita woke from a coma and asked her to keep the baby. The request becomes the emotional basis of Brett’s commitment, but its privacy will make it difficult to establish in court.

A contested account of Sanquita’s wishes

During a meeting with social worker Kirsten Schertzing, Brett explains her relationship with Sanquita and her dying wish that Brett keep the baby. Kirsten consults Sanquita’s medical chart, which records that she lapsed into a coma after her C-section and that nobody reported her conscious during the thirteen hours before her death except Brett. Brett maintains that Sanquita woke briefly that evening and spoke to her.

Kirsten does not resolve the dispute by saying she believes Brett. Instead, she stresses that the court’s judgment matters and tells Brett that Tia Robinson has visited her. Tia appeared coherent and well behaved, and Kirsten warns that courts often rule in favor of a child’s family. The warning makes clear that Brett’s personal bond with Sanquita and her account of a private conversation may not, by themselves, secure Austin’s future with her.

The challenge becomes explicit at the hearing. Brett acknowledges that nobody else was in the room when Sanquita asked her to take the baby, though she adds that Sanquita had earlier told Jean Anderson at Joshua House. The opposing counsel presses her to answer whether anyone witnessed the moment when Sanquita emerged from her coma. Brett’s account is vulnerable precisely because the central exchange was private.

The written request and temporary custody

The decisive evidence is a notarized statement dated March 5, several weeks before Sanquita’s death. The document records Sanquita’s intentions for her unborn child and identifies Brett as her best friend and homebound teacher; it names her as the person Sanquita wanted to receive sole custody if the child survived her. Its existence confirms that Sanquita’s choice was not limited to the conversation Brett described after the birth.

Judge Garcia reads the statement in court and grants Brett temporary custody until the adoption procedures are finalized. The ruling does not yet complete the adoption, but it changes Brett’s position from someone relying chiefly on a contested verbal account to the designated caregiver named in Sanquita’s notarized request. Brett drops her head into her hands and sobs as the hearing ends.

Adoption finalized

The formal adoption comes after weeks of paperwork. When Brett later confirms that Austin has been adopted, she says the process became final just the week before. The distinction between the court’s temporary order and this later finalization matters: Sanquita’s written request first gives Brett custody while the process continues; only afterward does the adoption complete the legal change.

The event joins three parts of Brett and Sanquita’s story: their teacher-student friendship, Sanquita’s stated decision about her child, and Brett’s sustained commitment to raising the baby. Austin’s adoption therefore carries forward Sanquita’s expressed intention while making Brett’s care a permanent family relationship.