The lawyer’s office smelled of stale coffee and industrial carpet cleaner. “It’s pretty rare for teenagers to push for a formal termination of parental rights like this,” the attorney said, sliding the thick stack of documents across her desk. “I’m not driving this,” Daniel corrected gently. “My kids are. Ava turns eighteen soon and wants her records clean of Michelle’s authority.”
He read every sentence carefully before picking up his pen. He made sure the filing centered entirely on Ava and Noah’s personal statements, written in their own words, rather than his perspective. He had no interest in building an attack against Michelle; he was simply honoring a request his kids had asked him to carry out.
“You could attach your own statement,” the attorney suggested. “Judges usually like hearing from the primary parent.” “I want this to reflect their voice, not mine,” Daniel said. He signed where necessary and left his own opinions out of the file. Driving home to the house he now owned, he felt the heavy responsibility of protecting the stability he had worked so hard to build.