Something that has really come clear for me in the last couple of months is how fortunate I am to have a family with enough financial resources to put up a good legal fight for a little girl in danger.
"Justice is blind" is what I have been told, but the reality is that if my parents weren't willing or able to pay lawyer fees, my husband and I would not be nearly as able to do what we're doing to try and help our niece. We would get a free half hour with duty counsel, the lawyers employed by the court for people who can't afford lawyers. Or, more likely, we would go into debt up to our necks. We would NOT have two people working on our case for a period of weeks and months to make sure that every single shred of evidence is properly documented and properly presented without worry for the cost.
No matter what happens, win or lose, I know we are fortunate to have been able to take our very best shot in court. My sister, god bless her psychotic little heart, isn't so fortunate. (I was going to say "lucky", but lucky isn't right. The reasons have everything to do with choice.)
It really makes me feel for all the people in the world who are in situations like ours but can't do anything about it because they are financially unable to do so. My parents are good people, and generous people who love their granddaughter enough to spend a huge chunk of their retirement on saving her. She is blessed, though she doesn't know it, and so am I.