Syndicate
Special Thanks To...
The following organizations were early supporters of Mensactivism.org, and we thank them for their support. If you'd like to trade links with us, see our Mensactivism.org supporters page.
Baby Veronica to stay with biological dad for now, court rules
Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2013-09-05 01:28
Story here. Excerpt:
'The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that Baby Veronica, the 3-year-old girl at the center of a years-long custody dispute, should temporarily remain with her biological father in Oklahoma instead of being returned to her adoptive parents in South Carolina.
...
It was not immediately clear Tuesday why the court made the emergency ruling or for how long Veronica would remain with her biological father, Dusten Brown.
The dispute began in 2009 when Brown signed paperwork relinquishing his parental rights. Scheduled to deploy to Iraq at the time, Brown says he believed his signature gave full rights to Veronica’s mother, Christy Maldonado.
...
At the heart of Veronica's case is the Indian Child Welfare Act, established in 1978 in response to high rates of Native American children being adopted by non-Native families. A South Carolina family court awarded custody of the girl to Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation, under the Indian Child Welfare Act. A family court in the same state later ruled that custody be awarded to the Capobiancos and ordered Brown to hand Veronica over. Brown refused.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in June that provisions of the act, which would favor Brown, didn't apply in the case.'
- Log in to post comments
Comments
This case makes my head spin.
This case makes my head spin. One side is lying to the media, but I'm not sure which side (I keep learning more details about this case, which make me change my opinion). The arguable details seem to be who the child has lived with after birth and when the adoption proceeding started and when the father began his protest of the adoption. I assume the courts were able to demand proof and get it narrowed down.
It's worth pointing out about the father: In my opinion, he clearly signed his paternal rights away before the birth of the child. According to articles I have read, he signed standard legal adoption forms typically signed before birth, and before a specific adopting couple is named. This is often done in case a father cannot be located after the birth. The mother also asked him in a text message, if he wants to sign away his rights, and he texted back indicating he wanted to. I think this might be a situation where a father thought he was getting out of financial responsibility, but he would be able to be a peripheral father - always knowing where his child was and always being able to step in and accept fatherhood for a weekend here and there. I think he was surprised and changed his mind when he found out the mother actually adopted the child out.
The father makes it sound as if he was stationed away the whole time so he had no idea what was going on. According to the adopting couple he lived two hours away from the mother and child for the first 6 months. Made no attempt to contact the mother to visit (since he believed the child was with her). He was aware of the due date - he never even called about the birth. The child was born in Mid August, he did not go off to military duty until mid January. (my dates may not be exact as I am going off memory.)
Most articles say the newborn baby came to live with the adopting couple immediately after birth and the father did not object until child was a year old (after his first inquirely to the mother about the child). The father has a different version of where the mother and child lived after the birth and indicates that he protested at the start of the adoption. So each has a different version of the timeline.
This case is such a mess. However, I think what is best for the little girl is to be with her biological dad.
This case highlights my concerns I have about adoption procedures in regards to fathers and how neither parent should be held to their intentions or behaviors about adoption before birth. We currently have a system where fathers have less choices regarding custody, and more judgment/less forgiveness when it comes to changing minds after birth.