Thursday, January 11, 2007

MORE HORRORS IN THE ADOPTION WORLD

In the Stephanie Bennett case in Ohio, it is my understanding that the court has ordered the return of Evelyn, her daughter. The adoption agency has yet to comply.

In the Allison Quets case in Virginia/Florida, she has now returned to the United States in Syracuse, New York. She is awaiting the court's decision there.

In Rashad Head's case, the judge has yet to decide the paternity of the case. He is letting the adoption attorneys do what they want and not listening to anything the Head's attorney has to say.

Now I find another case of adoption agency abuse. Here in my own state of Texas. I am appalled at this one and the others. It is in regards to Shawn McDonald. He wasn't told the child was his until two days before the baby was born.

You may not realize this but this cases are going down in the record books. I may come across as anti-adoption but listen to me. When the rights of American women and men are being violated, we need to stand up. These adoption agencies are taking away a parent's right to parent their own child. They say they take care of the birth parents. That these stories are not common. Yes they are common. These people are taking it to the media. We need to change the laws. NO MORE COERCION, NO MORE CORRUPTION, NO MORE LIES. WE CAN FIGHT THIS BUT WE MUST DO THIS TOGETHER. IT IS UP TO US TO CHANGE THE LAWS.

North Texas Father Fights For His Parental Rights

Jack FinkReporting

(CBS 11 News)
DALLAS ~ Shawn McDonald says he only found out about his baby two days before the child was born. He says he was powerless to stop the mother from giving the baby up for adoption. This legal battle is now being fought here at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center. A jury must decide if the father will lose his parental rights for good.“I'd love to be a father to him,” McDonald said. McDonald says he never got the chance to be a father to his son, Hunter.The boy is now 18 months old and since birth, has lived with his adoptive parents, Travis and Sabra Hess, in Idaho."[It] Really hurts emotionally... work time... every thought is nothing but this," McDonald said. Now a Dallas County jury will decide whether the Hess’ can keep Hunter and terminate McDonald's parental rights.Kathryn Lanigan-Wieser is McDonald's attorney. "This case involves a kidnapping,” she said. “They stole Shawn's child."Mcdonald's attorney accuses the birth mother Samantha Myers and Eric Larson, of Latter Day Saints Family Services, of conspiring to keep the birth and adoption a secret.Mcdonald says he had previously broken up with Myers, and that they share custody of a three and a half year old girl.Mcdonald says he only found out about Hunter on July 2, 2005, two days before he was born in Fort Worth."The baby was shipped off to Idaho before Shawn could do anything,” Lanigan-Wieser said. “In fact, they hid the identity of the Hess’. Shawn didn't know where the baby was until the Hess’ intervened in the lawsuit in September, 2006.” The Hess’, LDS Family Services and the birth mother all declined comment.But in court papers, LDS Family Services and its social worker, Eric Larson say McDonald knew Myers was pregnant and abandoned the child.But the adoptive parents said in court papers that LDS told them McDonald was "out of the picture" and "could not be located."The Hess’ want to keep Hunter. They say that changing his home now could negatively impact the baby. That's not something Shawn McDonald wants to consider. "I would have to think about that for the rest of my life,” McDonald said. Among the options for the jury include terminating McDonald's parental rights and leaving the child with the adoptive parents, giving McDonald sole custody, or giving primary custody to one of the parties with the other getting visitation.

ITS TIME TO START WRITING OUR STATE LEGISLATORS. WE HAVE TO LET THEM KNOW THIS IS INTOLERABLE.

4 comments:

HeatherRainbow said...

Hi Amy,

FYI, Allison's case is between NC and FL, not Virginia. :)

Anonymous said...

The laws in Texas are not the problem, they are very clear. The agency in this case is the problem. They did not do what the law requires them to do. The father came forward before the birth of the child and did not consent to the adoption. The agency rolled the dice and hoped that the Mr. McDonald would not pursue legal action. My guess is that the jury will return custody to Mr. McDonald unless there are other factors that are not being aired in the press (such as history of violence or something similar). I hurt for the child because he is an innocent victim in this. I do feel for the adoptive parents also because I get the feeling that they were given dishonest information from the adoption agency. Did you know that a social worker was put on probation by the state because she did not do her job? I want to know what happens to this agency because it is unacceptable what they have done. The agency should be ashamed that they have let this drag out so long and that they did not contact Mr. McDonald before they had involved an adoptive family. It is just not right. Why would they put a child in an adoptive placement when the termination was in jeopardy? There is no excuse for their behavior. Sorry for the rant, but unethical behavior by agencies really gets on my nerves!

sandra45 said...

Dear daughter of 2.
This is Shawn's mother. No shawn didn't get the right to raise his son it was done on the best interest saying that hunter would be better off with a mom and dad and what people don't know is that the couple who have hunter are family member's of shawn's ex-girlfriend so that is why hunter was hid from shawn and the couple knew months before the mother was pregant with shawn's baby even a social worker from the hospital informed the couple shawn was calling and saying stop no adoption and this wonderfull couple ran with the baby 2 days latter. So when you feel sorry for them your feeling sorry for kidnappers they even tryed to adopt him in another state. This really needs to stop before no one has rights except adoption agency's. oh my the way the ICPC had shawn's name on it and he didn't give consent for his child to be taking out of state. The judge wouldn't let the jury hear everything it's not over he will cont to fight for his son and his daughter's right to have her brother in her life.

Anonymous said...

ex girlfriend of Shawn Mcdonald:
first and for most we need to get one thing straight a jury who had never met shawn decide the placement of hunter, these were people who had never met him if he was such a good man that he claims to be then why does he not have hunter or his OTHER son Deagon that he SIGNED HIS RIGHTS OVER ON or his 4 year old daughter that lives with me that he rarely pays child support on and abandoned for a year!!!!! oh and the rest of his family abandoned for a year also!!! so maybe every body should step back 4 a minute and look at the factors that are pointing to this so called " DADDY OF THE YEAR"