Baby Vanessa stays in California
Despite her loser father’s efforts to the contrary
The synopsis of this one — Ohio woman becomes pregnant by a man who has multiple children with multiple women (two of them with her, in fact). He has never supported any of those children or been a positive influence in their lives. He also has a rather extensive criminal record. When she tells this man she is pregnant, he tells her to get an abortion.
Woman finally decides that she is not the best person to raise another baby. When her daughter is born, she gives the baby up for adoption to a woman she handpicks through a private adoption registry. That woman, a single woman living in California, is given custody of the baby so that she can adopt her. All is well.
Flash forward to the adoption hearing wherein the birth mother will relinquish her rights formally and the adoptive mother will become the baby’s legal parent. The required notifications and entries are made in the various databases that govern adoptions and out-of-state placements to insure that everything happens the way it should.
At the eleventh hour, the birth father and his mother learn that the baby they figured was being raised across town without their assistance or interest is actually being adopted. They decide that he or his mother should have custody instead. They protest the adoption.
Legal wrangling, home visits, evaluations, trials, expert witnesses, taxpayer-funded visits to California and more ensue. The trial is continued from last year and resumed last week. CPS admits that if the child had stayed in Ohio, the birth father would have been resoundingly denied custody as he is not considered a fit parent.
The question: which is more important, the rights of the parent (no matter how fit) or the best interests of the child?
Finally, today, an agreement was reached.
Baby Vanessa’s adoptive mom will retain custody of her. She will not, however, be permitted to adopt the toddler. In exchange for her being basically nothing more than a foster mom, the birth father and his mother will STFU and his mother will be granted visitation with the child.
It’s a better outcome than it might have been, but it’s not what’s best for the child. Her California mom should be adopting her and giving her the stable, secure life every child deserves.
