Why should a child grow up with her natural, first, birth parent? Because.

Lorraine

The other day a first mother who hopes to get back her child before the adoption is finalized asked me to write a letter for her to be sent to several government officials. In doing so, I could not but help think of the case that so many of us can't get off our minds--that of Dusten Brown and his daughter Veronica. We wait now for some kind of word from the Cherokee court where the case is now. 

I am not sure how the Cherokee court now is able to get involved after the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the South Carolina courts, but nonetheless, that is where the fate of Veronica Brown now sits. Everything in the letter below is true not only in the case of the Canadian mother and child I am writing this for, but also for Veronica.

Returning a child to her father is the right decision

Jane

Finally, a voice of sanity in a contested adoption case. South Carolina law professor Marcia Zug defends the decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court last month to return two-year old Veronica to her father, Dusten Brown, cancelling the adoption to Melanie and Matt Capobianco in a article in Slate.

Zug's August 23 article in Slate, "Two year old 'Baby Veronica' was ripped from the only home's she ever known. The court made the right decision"* is a welcome change from the media blizzard chastising the South Carolina Court. The popular refrains "ripped from the only family she has ever known and "what about the best interests of the child"? repeated endlessly in this and similar cases are simply wrong.

State adoption consent laws: the ugly, the bad, the better, and the GOOD

Jane

The loss of a child to adoption can be a blessing according to a social worker with the Mormon-affiliated adoption agency, LDS Family Services, who has commented on First Mother Forum recently.  She says this is true of many of her clients. I have to admit this seems far-fetched to those of us, both baby-swoop era mothers and recent mothers, still grieving from our loss, as many of the comments on the last post indicate and birth mother memoirs and blogs attest to. We also know that birth mothers' feelings may change over time.