DOES THIS WOMAN DESERVE SYMPATHY

I do not think so. Teri Martin drove from Michigan to Nebraska and dumped her 13 year old adopted son. She and her husband adopted this young teenager at the age four with his newborn sibling. She tells the news reporters that she coerced into adopting him in order to adopt his baby brother. This young teen was placed into the foster care system. He already has suffered. This again shows the mentality of our country. It shows that children are disposable. She may very well be mentally ill or been driven to desperation; however, she is the adult here. She and her husband signed up to be responsible for these two boys. If this boy had problems before, he is going to be worse now. His trust and love of his adoptive parents has been blown to bits. I for one do not blame him. I feel for both of these boys. If this woman dumped the first one whose to say that she would not do it to the other one? So much for that "forever family" bullshit.

Here is the link and the story.

Father reclaims two of his kids

Mother abandoned son in Nebraska

BY MEGHA SATYANARAYANA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The father of a Southfield boy abandoned in Nebraska by his mother under a controversial law in that state regained custody Friday of the two youngest of the couple's four children.

Oakland County Probate Judge Linda Hallmark granted an emergency request from lawyers representing the parents, the children and Michigan's Child Protective Services at a hearing Friday.

CPS and the children's lawyer said the two biological children of Teri and Nathanial Martin were not adjusting well to their foster home, and the Martins showed good parenting in comforting the 5-year-old during a supervised visit after a doctor appointment.

"It shows we're trying to resolve this. These are not bad people," said Lavonne Jackson, the father's lawyer.

Teri Martin is permitted supervised visits with the children, but she is not allowed to be in their Southfield home while the petition of neglect that initially cost her custody of the four children is unresolved. A jury trial on the petition is scheduled for next month.

The Martins lost their children -- two biological and two adopted -- after Teri Martin drove more than 700 miles last month with two relatives and abandoned her 13-year-old adoptive son in Nebraska under the state's controversial Safe Haven Law. The Nebraska legislature is expected to reconsider the law because the Southfield boy and a few other out-of-state children are among those who have been dropped off there at hospitals and other "safe havens."

Her desperate act calls into question her mental health, said Deborah Carley, chief deputy prosecutor for Oakland County.

In an affidavit given to Nebraska police, the boy said his mother was stressed out and was trying to teach him a lesson when she left him at an Omaha hospital in the middle of the night.

"He's been told for a long time that what's happened to him, what's happened to the family, is all his fault," said Carley.

Friday's hearing concerned the Martins' parental rights to the 13-year-old, but CPS and the children's attorney asked to return the two biological children to the father.

The attorneys also asked to change the 13-year-old's custody to temporary, and to leave him with his fellow adopted brother in a foster home. All four children are still wards of the state.

Contact MEGHA SATYANARAYANA at 313-223-4544 or megha@freepress.com.