My husband and I took a long time to warm up to the idea of adoption. We were scared of an outcome we saw played out on TV programs and in newspapers. We were scared that a birth parent would change her or his mind and take the child out of our arms. We had been unsuccessful at conceiving our own child and couldn’t bear the thought of a change in the plan at someone else’s hands.
I’m sure we’re not alone with this fear. Birth parents reneging on adoption agreements probably does not happen as often as the media and entertainment industries make it seem, though. That does not change how attached to the potential children even adoptive parents become.
This very adoption nightmare started three years ago for a couple in Indiana. The couple adopted a beautiful bouncing baby boy from a woman in Ohio. The couple was at their son’s birth and were among the first to hold the precious bundle. Not long after returning home to Indiana with the child, the couple learned that the biological father had filed suit to be granted his son’s return.
Despite all the laws in Ohio that favor the adoptive couple in this case, the biological father was awarded custody. The toddler in the middle could lose the only people he’d ever known as mom and dad through no fault of theirs.
The Vaughns have cared for Grayson and the child they gave birth to five months after bringing Grayson home as if the adoption were as final as it’s supposed to be. Why wouldn’t they? The biological father, on the other hand, has dealt with and stayed in the courts. He hasn’t celebrated Grayson at all.
Grayson is three. Where is the concern for him in his good home? Shouldn’t his needs be addressed?