Dean Norris Spills on Being Roomies with Lisa Kudrow and Parker Posey

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

And in step with the lawyer, they’ve “truly an important case for adoption.”

Sooner than Gary and Kristina went to go to the lawyer, Trina Saunders, Gary shared his concepts and concerns in a confessional.

“With the potential of Kristina adopting Leah, I’m utterly on board. It isn’t so simple as signing a check or snapping your fingers; there’s heaps involved,” talked about Gary, who was granted full custody of Leah in 2011.

“Now we’ve to go to courtroom. That locations a lot of stress on her,” he continued. “After which, what if her mom merely quickly begins to take her, you already know? It’s a stress on me. It’s a stress on poor Leah. I’m not proper right here to hurt Amber, nevertheless she shouldn’t be proper right here to hurt Leah, each.”

“Somebody’s gonna get harm,” Gary added. “And the person [who’s] hurting primarily probably the most correct now may very well be Leah. I’m guaranteeing my youngster doesn’t endure.”

Whereas it was already acknowledged to viewers that Amber and Leah have been estranged, Gary suggested the lawyer that Amber has solely seen Leah “4 days” inside the “earlier yr.”

When Saunders requested about baby help, Gary talked about that it isn’t “enforced by way of the courtroom,” and claimed Amber is “behind” on funds.

And in step with Saunders, inside the courtroom’s eyes, Amber’s absence in Leah’s life is taken under consideration “abandonment.”

“On account of she’s not had any important contact alongside together with her mother over the past six months, that’s deemed as abandonment,” the lawyer suggested Gary and Kristina.

“I really feel that adoption could be the only option, on account of in an adoption that severs that parent-child relationship that she has alongside together with her mother, and also you’ll develop to be her mother, and in addition you moreover could be positioned on the beginning certificates as her mother,” Saunders talked about to Kristina.

“However after we are in a position to current that [Amber’s] abandoned her daughter, then we don’t want her mom’s consent,” she added.

Whereas Gary admitted that he thinks Amber would “contest” the adoption, Saunders well-known that she believes that if it went to courtroom, they’d “have the flexibility to current” that Amber has “not been” in Leah’s life, “she’s not equipped for her financially, [and] she’s not had important contact alongside together with her in over six months.”

“I really feel you would have an excellent case for adoption,” she mentioned.

Although Gary admitted that that’s “not one factor we wished to do,” he’s concerned about Leah’s well-being if one factor have been to happen to him.

“I don’t see Amber being what Leah needs,” he talked about. “I’ve to know that if one factor happens to me, Leah’s safe.”

The lawyer talked about the “timeline” could be about “60 days” to start the adoption course of.

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

Gary talked about if “each little factor was to go simply,” the adoption “may take three months.” Nonetheless, he suggested Leah that if “Amber contests then it would take like a yr, it would take longer.”

“I really feel the target proper right here is to make certain you’re healthful and utterly completely satisfied and introduced care of and also you’ve bought what you want,” Gary talked about.

Leah — who turned 16 in November — voiced her concern that Amber may make the strategy “harder.”

“By then, it’d take two years, after which at the moment, there’s most likely not no degree even going by way of all the issue for it,” she talked about.

In a confessional, Leah shared her concepts, admitting that she truly wants Kristina to undertake her, nevertheless she’s “scared” of how Amber may react.

“I should be adopted on account of Kristina’s been there my full life,” {the teenager} talked about of her stepmom, who married her dad in 2015. “I indicate, I truly must do it, nevertheless I’m scared it should make Amber mad. I don’t like being indicate to of us.”

“Nonetheless I have no idea, I merely actually really feel favor it must be official, and it’s higher than a piece of paper to me,” she added.

Leah well-known her hesitation to her dad and stepmom, sooner than noting that she’s going to “give it some thought” sooner than she decides.

Gary instructed that Leah converse to her therapist regarding the state of affairs to see what’s going to most likely be “emotionally be best” for her and the “healthiest selection.”

“I do know that your mom loves you,” he talked about, “nevertheless for some trigger, she doesn’t know one of the simplest ways to current it.”

Gary opened up further in a confessional, telling the MTV cameras, “If it wasn’t for Kristina being in her life as rather a lot as she was, Leah wouldn’t have a mom. It may very well be no particular person.”

Kristina, within the meantime, talked about that Leah is “going to weigh her decisions” and “resolve what route she must go,” stressing that she “will do irrespective of she wants.”

“Nothing will change one of the simplest ways that I like that woman,” she talked about, later assuring Leah, “I’m not going anyplace. I such as you, and I’m there for you, and we’ll get by way of it.”

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