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Girl is adopted; court vacates adoption 1 yr later; gives rights to ex-con dad
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:47 am
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:47 am
quote:
The adoptive parents of a South Carolina girl are fighting to retain custody of the 3-year-old child they've cared for since she was weeks old after a judge remanded the case back to a family court.
Tammy and Edward Dalsing, of Rock Hill, S.C., welcomed Braelynn Puckett into their home in 2013 when she was 3 weeks old, raising the bubbly, brown-eyed girl who loves ballet and swing sets as if she were their own.
Now, the Dalsings said they fear the girl will be placed with her biological father, who was released from jail three months ago.
quote:
The Dalsings -- registered foster parents who have seven other children -- were declared adoptive parents of the girl, according to a 2015 "Final Order of Adoption Notice" obtained by Fox News. In the ruling, a family court judge "hereby forever terminated" the parental rights of the child's biological parents, Erica Smith and Andrew Jack Myers, who was incarcerated at the time of the order.
quote:
But in a move that stunned the family, an appellate court judge ruled to vacate the adoption in December 2016. The girl's fate is now back in the hands of the family court system. Myers is arguing the court never should have terminated his parental rights.
"His rights were terminated because he [Myers] failed to meet the minimum requirements under South Carolina state law," said Dalsing, claiming Myers never called, visited, provided financial support or showed any interest in the child's life.
quote:
The South Carolina Department of Social Services had removed the girl from her biological mother shortly after her birth in May 2013 when a drug test revealed the presence of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in her system. The DSS then placed Braelynn with the Dalsings, who contract with DSS to provide foster care. The York County couple has eight children, five of whom came to the Dalsings as foster children, including Braelynn and her biological sister, McKenna.
At the time Braelynn was placed in the Dalsing's care, Myers was incarcerated in Virginia on two contempt of court charges, two fraud, bank notes or coins charges and one probation violation.
Following his release in November, Myers appealed the adoption order and an appellate court judge agreed, citing a previous ruling that said incarceration was not enough reason to terminate a parent's rights.
quote:
The Dalsings claim Smith -- whom they are in regular contact with -- had asked them to adopt her daughter and sides with the family in the dispute
LINK
Family court in this country is so screwed up.
12
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:48 am to GetCocky11
quote:
Braelynn
She's doomed anyway
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:49 am to GetCocky11
quote:
Family court in this country is so screwed up.
You won't get an argument from me.
I think the courts trying to "unscrew" this is screwing it up even more......too bad the courts don't give a flying frick about the little girl.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:50 am to GetCocky11
Sad story, once an adoption is finalized, that should be the end of it, barring an issue with the adoptive parents.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:50 am to GetCocky11
So that's how Killz got his daughter
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:51 am to GetCocky11
That would be difficult to take away a child from the only family she has ever known. Still don't know what the family court will do here though.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:52 am to GetCocky11
Another example of the brilliance of tax dollars hard at work.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 8:52 am to spslayto
After reading a article from a local station, it appears to biological mother is involved in her life and supports the adoptive parents in this claim. Hopefully that helps them.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 9:03 am to GetCocky11
This is fricked up all the way around. This is the only family she has known I find it hard to take her away from them, however if the farther never had a chance to be part of her life because he was in jail on non drug non violent crimes how do we terminate his parental rights?
Posted on 2/8/17 at 9:34 am to GetCocky11
what an ugly situation
Posted on 2/8/17 at 10:00 am to TIGERSTORM
You can't tell me the biological father wasn't aware that his parental rights were terminated 3 years ago while he was in jail, so why did he wait 3 years to make an issue of it? If he really cared, why not have the termination of his parental rights appealed while he was still in prison and ask the court to appoint a relative as a temporary guardian until his release from jail? Now the little girl is 3 and could possibly be taken away from the only family she's ever known. Bad situation all around
Posted on 2/8/17 at 10:32 am to GetCocky11
Dad just wants to get paid. Understandable
Posted on 2/8/17 at 10:35 am to GetCocky11
I guess that's better than adopting a kid and then deciding to ship him back to Africa when you get tired of him.
At least someone wants that little girl.
At least someone wants that little girl.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 10:44 am to GetCocky11
That judge should be thrown off the bench... and disbarred...
It is in Louisiana. Don't know about SC...
quote:
kywildcatfanone
quote:
Sad story, once an adoption is finalized, that should be the end of it, barring an issue with the adoptive parents.
It is in Louisiana. Don't know about SC...
This post was edited on 2/8/17 at 10:47 am
Posted on 2/8/17 at 10:53 am to GetCocky11
Situation sucks all around. I honestly side with the dad on this. He gets out and is trying to actually be in his child's life, if anything, common sense should allow the dad to prove he is worth of at least joint custody with the adoptive parents.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 11:57 am to kywildcatfanone
When I adopted, the last thing the judge said before banging the gavel was "do you understand this ruling is final and can never be reversed?" Yes judge.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 12:05 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Sad story, once an adoption is finalized, that should be the end of it, barring an issue with the adoptive parents.
Usually, it is the end of it, but if the order finalizing the adoption was wrongly issued, are they just supposed to let it stand? It would suck to lose your child forever because a family court judge made a bad ruling and now it has to remain in effect even though it was wrong.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 12:17 pm to Nuts4LSU
quote:
Braelynn
She's doomed anyway
But seriously, this is why if my wife (sorry, no pics) and I decide to adopt, we are heading to the former Soviet Block.
Posted on 2/8/17 at 12:20 pm to Tiger Prawn
quote:
You can't tell me the biological father wasn't aware that his parental rights were terminated 3 years ago while he was in jail, so why did he wait 3 years to make an issue of it?
Probably for the same reason he wasn't in court when his rights were terminated. He was in jail in another state and not allowed to attend the court hearings. He didn't get a fair hearing, and he didn't have a reasonable chance to appeal the incorrect ruling.
The other reasons besides incarceration were that he supposedly never made contact, but they admit he sent a card around the child's first birthday, and that he never supported the child, but he was in jail and the only means of support they claim he had was his "commissary account". Are they serious? They expected an incarcerated prisoner to support a child with the few cents or couple of dollars he might have had in a prison account?
This was obviously an attempt to circumvent the legal protections the father was entitled to, and now it's blowing up in their faces.
quote:
Now the little girl is 3 and could possibly be taken away from the only family she's ever known.
If they had never been granted an adoption and his rights had never been terminated but the girl lived with the foster parents while the father was in jail, wouldn't exactly the same thing be true? If this is enough, then the whole principle that incarceration is not sufficient grounds to terminate paternity would be meaningless. The incarcerated parent would lose their rights every time under the rationale that "it's not because you were incarcerated, it's because the child has been with the foster parents for so long because you were incarcerated that it would be wrong to remove her after all this time".
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