Foible in Law Reveals Domestic Tragedies Nationwide

My last two blogs dealt with the Nebraska Safe Haven law which allowed parents to abandon children without fear of persecution, and with its amendment last weekend which makes the law apply to infants under 30 days only. While researching these blogs, I came across some interesting stories. Families.com readers shared my horror at the idea of what being abandoned by a parent–at an age of full awareness of what is happening–must do to a child’s psyche. However, at some other sites I found people commenting in favor of the Nebraska law, which was formerly the only one that did … Continue reading →

Nebraska Safe Haven Law Now Applies Only to Newborns

Nebraska state legislators have changed the state’s “safe haven” law, which allowed a parent to leave a child with a hospital employee without fear of facing charges, to apply only to infants in the first month of life. Last spring, Nebraska became the last U.S. state to enact a safe haven law. These laws are intended to prevent frightened new parents from abandoning the baby in an unsafe place or from hiding and possibly killing the baby. In 49 states, the law specifies the age of the infants the law applies to. In some states the law applies to newborns … Continue reading →

Tragic Death of a Baby–Why Not Adoption Instead?

News sources are now reporting that a 19-year-old Wisconsin woman is in jail for neglect causing the death of her young infant. Indra Book stopped breastfeeding her baby and allowed her to die. A friend of hers is charged with covering up the child’s death. The LaCrosse County District Attorney told the media that the parents could have given up the baby under the state’s safe haven laws. This would have brought the baby to safety while maintaining the anonymity of the parents. There is much that is still unknown about this case. The mother has given conflicting statements. The … Continue reading →

Adoption and Inheritance Rights

Can an adopted child inherit from his/her birthparents as well as adoptive parents? Can a birthparent claim some of the estate of an adopted child who dies? In some states, the answer is yes! There are two major things to keep in mind when reading this blog: 1. This blog refers to state “intestate” inheritance laws, meaning laws regarding the estate of someone who dies without having made a will. If you make a will, you can direct that your money and other assets go to your adoptive child, your birth child, your adoptive parent, your birthparent, your neighbor’s third … Continue reading →

“Wrongful Adoption” Lawsuits

Occasionally one hears of adoptive parents suing an agency for “wrongful adoption”. The parents usually claim that after they adopted the child, the child began to exhibit special needs and/or behaviors that were unexpected. For example, a child who sustained extensive sexual and physical abuse is considered at risk for attachment disorders. Children who were abused themselves also are at risk for becoming abusers of others. A child may have disabilities related to fetal alcohol exposure. The parents claim that the agency either knew about these problems, or factors putting the children at high risk for these problems, and withheld … Continue reading →

“To Secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and Our Posterity”

Most parents would assume that once a child is legally theirs, their citizenship extends to that child. After all, plenty of parents serving abroad in the military or on business give birth overseas and their children are citizens. We have always been told that having one parent who is a U.S. citizen automatically makes a child a U.S. citizen. Except, adopted children haven’t always had this protection. Until recently, children adopted from other countries had to go through a separate naturalization process (forms, filing fees, sometimes court appearance). There have been cases in which adoptive parents assumed that their citizenship … Continue reading →

Adoption Day #2

I have detailed in a number of blogs what turned out to be a fight for Isaiah. He came to our house on a “foster to adopt” basis because we already had adopted his four older maternal brothers. His birth mother had been encouraged by a movie (Losing Isaiah) to fight for his custody. She finally decided, during court ordered mediation, to sign a relinquishment of her parental rights. We agreed to send her, through an intermediary to protect our identity, pictures and a narrative of all five boys every six months. We had a “goodbye visit” with her and … Continue reading →