Why Gary Shirley’s Lawyer Believes Amber Portwood ‘Deserted’ Leah

On Thursday’s episode of Teen Mother: The Subsequent Chapter, Gary met with a lawyer to debate the potential for Leah getting adopted by his spouse, Kristina, after his daughter expressed how she needs to be adopted by her stepmom amid her estrangement from Amber.

And in response to the legal professional, they’ve “actually case for adoption.”

Earlier than Gary and Kristina went to go to the legal professional, Trina Saunders, Gary shared his ideas and issues in a confessional.

“With the potential for Kristina adopting Leah, I am completely on board. It isn’t as straightforward as signing a examine or snapping your fingers; there’s lots concerned,” mentioned Gary, who was granted full custody of Leah in 2011.

“We now have to go to courtroom. That places a number of stress on her,” he continued. “After which, what if her mother simply hastily begins to take her, you realize? It is a pressure on me. It is a pressure on poor Leah. I am not right here to harm Amber, however she should not be right here to harm Leah, both.”

“Any individual’s gonna get harm,” Gary added. “And the individual [who’s] hurting probably the most proper now could be Leah. I am ensuring my child would not undergo.”

Whereas it was already identified to viewers that Amber and Leah have been estranged, Gary advised the legal professional that Amber has solely seen Leah “4 days” within the “previous yr.”

When Saunders requested about little one help, Gary mentioned that it is not “enforced by means of the courtroom,” and claimed Amber is “behind” on funds.

And in response to Saunders, within the courtroom’s eyes, Amber’s absence in Leah’s life is taken into account “abandonment.”

“As a result of she’s not had any vital contact along with her mom during the last six months, that is deemed as abandonment,” the lawyer advised Gary and Kristina.

“I feel that adoption can be your only option, as a result of in an adoption that severs that parent-child relationship that she has along with her mom, and you’ll turn into her mom, and also you additionally can be positioned on the delivery certificates as her mom,” Saunders mentioned to Kristina.

“But when we will present that [Amber’s] deserted her daughter, then we do not want her mother’s consent,” she added.

Whereas Gary admitted that he thinks Amber would “contest” the adoption, Saunders famous that she believes that if it went to courtroom, they’d “be capable to present” that Amber has “not been” in Leah’s life, “she’s not supplied for her financially, [and] she’s not had vital contact along with her in over six months.”

“I feel you’ve gotten a extremely good case for adoption,” she said.

Though Gary admitted that that is “not one thing we needed to do,” he is involved about Leah’s well-being if one thing had been to occur to him.

“I do not see Amber being what Leah wants,” he mentioned. “I must know that if one thing occurs to me, Leah’s secure.”

The legal professional mentioned the “timeline” can be about “60 days” to start out the adoption course of.

Later within the episode, Gary and Kristina sat down with Leah, and relayed the data they acquired on the appointment.

Gary mentioned if “every little thing was to go easily,” the adoption “might take three months.” Nonetheless, he advised Leah that if “Amber contests then it might take like a yr, it might take longer.”

“I feel the objective right here is to be sure to’re wholesome and blissful and brought care of and you’ve got what you need,” Gary mentioned.

Leah — who turned 16 in November — voiced her concern that Amber might make the method “more durable.”

“By then, it would take two years, after which at that time, there’s not likely no level even going by means of all the difficulty for it,” she mentioned.

In a confessional, Leah shared her ideas, admitting that she actually needs Kristina to undertake her, however she’s “scared” of how Amber might react.

“I need to be adopted as a result of Kristina’s been there my entire life,” the teenager mentioned of her stepmom, who married her dad in 2015. “I imply, I actually need to do it, however I am scared it might make Amber mad. I do not like being imply to folks.”

“However I do not know, I simply really feel prefer it ought to be official, and it is greater than a chunk of paper to me,” she added.

Leah famous her hesitation to her dad and stepmom, earlier than noting that she’s going to “give it some thought” earlier than she comes to a decision.

Gary recommended that Leah communicate to her therapist in regards to the state of affairs to see what shall be “emotionally be greatest” for her and the “healthiest possibility.”

“I do know that your mother loves you,” he mentioned, “however for some motive, she would not know how you can present it.”

Gary opened up additional in a confessional, telling the MTV cameras, “If it wasn’t for Kristina being in her life as a lot as she was, Leah would not have a mother. It might be no one.”

Kristina, in the meantime, mentioned that Leah is “going to weigh her choices” and “resolve what route she needs to go,” stressing that she “will do no matter she needs.”

“Nothing will change the way in which that I like that woman,” she mentioned, later assuring Leah, “I am not going anyplace. I like you, and I am there for you, and we’ll get by means of it.”

New episodes of Teen Mother: The Subsequent Chapter air Thursdays on MTV.