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Book Review : For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption

Monica Blume, a social worker and counselor with LDS Family Services, once saw a young woman who had been adopted watch a film entitled “ Adoption and Unwed Parents”. Tears ran down the young woman’s face. “I never knew that my birth mother loved me,” she said. Blume, who has worked with many, many birthmothers, birth fathers, birth grandparents over the years, wrote For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption not only in hopes of being helpful to birthmothers, birth families, and clergy who may be involved in adoption decisions, but in hopes, she says, that she … Continue reading →

Avoiding an Adoption Nightmare

My last blog talked about the nightmare scenario of the Baby Jessica case in the early 1990s in which courts ruled that a 2 ½ year old child would leave the parents who had raised her for 2 ½ years and go to her biological father. This case had many unusual aspects, but the media did not always make clear that the adoption was never completed—the birth father asked for custody as soon as the mother told him about the child, when the baby was under a month old. Steps to take to avoid an adoption nightmare include: • Choose … Continue reading →

Putative Father’s Registry–Biological Father’s Rights

During the past 40 years the number of children born to unmarried parents has grown dramatically. Putative fathers (the alleged, named, or reputed biological father) of children born out of marriage have historically been given few rights when it comes to the wellbeing and upbringing of their children. Things have been changing in this area and putative fathers have challenged the termination of their parental rights when their child has been placed for adoption. The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed putative father’s constitutional protection of parental rights when the father has established a substantial relationship with his child. A substantial … Continue reading →

Glossary of Special Needs Adoption-Related Terms “P”

Special Needs and Adoption-Related Terms: Adoption terms and special needs words may vary from agency to agency.The terms used in this Special Needs Adoption-Related Glossary may be slightly different from one State to another. A | B | C | D | E-F | G-H-I | J-K-L | M | N-O | P | Q-R | S | T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z Parens patriae: Legal term that defines the State’s legal role as the guardian to protect the interests of children who cannot take care of themselves. For example, in an abuse or neglect case, this concept is used to explain the State’s … Continue reading →