This guest post is from Ian
Myers, Regent Law 2L and current Family Law student:
While home for the holidays, the topic of my adoption came up and I was eager to learn more about the process. My parents said they only considered international adoption; this surprised me greatly. I am grateful nonetheless for this decision as this allowed them to find me in a Colombian orphanage. I asked why they were not considering domestic adoption and they referenced an IL adoption case that was heartbreaking.
The case became known as the "Baby Richard Case". In 1991 Danny Kirchner was born and four days later was brought to his adoptive parents' home. Danny's biological mother consented to the adoption, however the birth mother did not tell the birth father about the adoption. The adoption was granted and the baby spent the next 3 years living with his adoptive parents. The birth father eventually found out about the adoption and a custody battle ensued. After a hard fought legal challenge, the adoptive parents lost custody and their son who they had raised since he was four days old was taken from their home and returned to his biological father.
This case was decided three years before I was
born. It was because of this case that my parents did not consider domestic
adoption. They were afraid that something similar might happen to them and
they couldn't bear the thought of having their children taken away. This
is why in 1998 they sought an international adoption as the
likelihood of this occurring at the time was very low. My heart aches for
Danny's adoptive parents. If I was the judge in that case I would have
determined that what was in the best interest of the child was to
remain with the people who have raised him for the past 3 years, and not
hand him off to what the child views as a stranger. This case
likely negatively impacted American's faith in the security of
private domestic adoptions; which is deeply unfortunate as adoption should
be encouraged and pursued if it's in the best interest of the child.
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