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 “really a terrific 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 take a look at 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 plenty of stress on her,” he continued. “After which, what if her mom merely quickly begins to take her, you already know? It’s a strain on me. It’s a strain 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 might be Leah. I’m making certain my little one doesn’t bear.”

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 infant help, Gary talked about that it isn’t “enforced by the use 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 may 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 may be positioned on the beginning certificates as her mother,” Saunders talked about to Kristina.

“However after we are capable of 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 provided for her financially, [and] she’s not had important contact alongside together with her in over six months.”

“I really feel you possibly can 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” may 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 “would possibly take three months.” However, he suggested Leah that if “Amber contests then it’d take like a yr, it’d take longer.”

“I really feel the target proper right here is to make sure you’re healthful and utterly pleased 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 would possibly make the strategy “harder.”

“By then, it’d take two years, after which at the moment, there’s in all probability not no stage even going by the use of all the issue for it,” she talked about.

In a confessional, Leah shared her concepts, admitting that she really wants Kristina to undertake her, nevertheless she’s “scared” of how Amber would possibly 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 really have to do it, nevertheless I’m scared it’ll make Amber mad. I don’t like being indicate to people.”

“Nevertheless I have no idea, I merely actually really feel want it must be official, and it’s larger than a bit 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 in regards to the state of affairs to see what’s going to in all probability 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 best ways to current it.”

Gary opened up extra in a confessional, telling the MTV cameras, “If it wasn’t for Kristina being in her life as quite a bit as she was, Leah wouldn’t have a mom. It might 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 regardless of she wants.”

“Nothing will change one of the best ways that I like that girl,” 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 the use of it.”

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