on my radar

[the_siobhan]

I just finished reading a news article about a woman who is facing an extradition trial in Canada. She kidnapped the children (twins) she had previously given up for adoption and ran across the border. The US and Canada have pretty specific agreements in place around these kind of circumstances because non-custodial parents have made a bit of a habit of grabbing children and running across government lines. So chances are pretty good she's going to be shipped home to face prosecution.

The thing that got me about this story is that the woman in question changed her mind about putting her kids up for adoption just 12 hours after signing the paperwork.

When I put Jenn up for adoption I had something like 90 days to change my mind before the file was closed and lost all my legal rights. During that time she was placed in a foster home. It wasn't until the 90 days was over she went to her permanent adoptive family, when there was no chance of them having to go through the emotional impact of having their new daughter taken from them.

So basically she would not be a kidnapper if she had been living in Canada when she made the choice to adopt out her kids, and then subsequently had a change of heart.

I'm not sure why I'm talking about this. Possibly because it's a subject close to my heart for obvious reasons. And in general I think the extradition treaties we have with the US are largely a good thing.

But in this case I think their process is broken and I'm currently debating with myself as to whether or not we have the right to decide to distance ourselves from that.

Comments

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

Wow; I agree completely. If she'd had the extra time, she might have been able to seek counselling. This one-shot, sign-away-your-baby thing seems insanely cruel. Your body is going nuts, your mind is in a terrible space. Giving up her babies may well be the best thing for everyone, but to do it like that seems wrong. I will be deeply disappointed if they do extradite her, and I hope there is a legal appeals process in place for her.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

There's something in the news at the moment about a kidnapping.
I'm not sure of the details but somehow it involves a Canadian, Australia and Lebanon. Apparently there's some Hague Convention that governs these kind of issues to which Lebanon (where the father stole the kids) isn't a signee.

Thought you may be tangentally interested.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's particularly good for an infant to spend the first 3 months of its life with a temporary caregiver who would only be torn away and replaced by others. The initial bonding is so crucial to attachment, it seems.

Perhaps there's an argument here for some required (or strongly strongly suggested) counseling for pre-partum mothers who plan to adopt out their children, but I don't see a solution in further burdening the already heaving and inadequate foster care system.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The U.S. does have waiting periods before adoptions are final; I think each state makes their own rules about that. My understanding of this case is that the woman changed her mind within the waiting period. I don't know why custody is even in dispute.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

It varies by state, with about half having waiting periods between 3 and 10 days. Almost all of the rest do allow revocation of consent to be ordered by a court, but those usually require a reason like it was under duress or fraudulent in some way.

Almost all states, though, have a "no-sign" waiting period of a couple of days between starting the process and finalizing the concent to adopt. I wonder what happened to that..

[panic-girl.livejournal.com]

Woah. I didn't realise it was 12 hours!
Though how old are the babies? They're toddlers aren't they? Sorry, I've only heard about this case peripherally.

[emzebel.livejournal.com]

I've done a little googling on this case, and it is not a fair representation of U.S. adoption practice.

Some states would have given the children back to the birth mother without question within the time frame that she requested them. But I agree that in this case, the process appears to have been broken.