Advertisements
Advertisements
I just read this article in the paper today. What do you think?
Baby's birth mom, agency ask court to nullify adoption
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Nebraska adoption agency and birth mother want to take back a 3-month-old baby boy from a couple who wanted to give him a home, after learning that the adoptive mother was pregnant.
The biological mother, Megan Lynn Morgan, 22, of Sutherland, Neb., said in court documents that she wanted the parents who adopted her son not to have their own biological children. She wanted them either to raise her son alone or adopt more kids if they wanted to expand their family.
But Jason and Angela Vesely of Verdigre, Neb., say they didn't purposely hide Angela's pregnancy when they applied to adopt a child. They say they were never asked by the private agency if she was pregnant and didn't know the agency had rules against pregnant mothers applying.
Angela Vesely, 32, said she planned to tell the biological mother and caseworker about her pregnancy but was waiting because she had miscarried three times. Jason Vesely said his wife was more than four months' pregnant when the Nebraska Children's Home Society assigned the child to them. They applied to adopt in 2005.
The baby was living with the Veselys, who brought him to their home in Verdigre from the hospital four days after he was born in North Platte.
The agency confronted the Veselys after finding out in December that Angela was pregnant. The Veselys were told they had to return the baby two days later, Jason Vesely said.
Instead, the couple turned to the courts, and a Knox County judge granted them emergency guardianship of the baby. The agency has since filed a motion asking the judge to order the Veselys to turn over the baby to the agency.
"We have bonded as a family and cannot imagine our lives without (the baby)," Angela Vesely said in an e-mail to the Associated Press. "He is our son."
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for today, and the judge in the case appointed an independent lawyer to represent the interests of the baby.
Attempts to reach Morgan, the birth mother, were unsuccessful. Lawyers for Morgan, the Nebraska Children's Home Society, the Veselys and a court-appointed attorney for the baby did not return multiple phone calls from the Associated Press.
Couples with children under 18 months cannot apply to adopt children from the Nebraska Children's Home Society, according to the private agency's eligibility requirements. And couples must wait until their own children are 2 years old before the agency will place a child with them.
Meanwhile, Morgan has filed a separate complaint, asking a judge to invalidate the original adoption agreement she signed with the Nebraska Children's Home Society and grant her permanent custody. Morgan said in court documents filed in Lincoln County that she would never have let the Veselys adopt her son if she knew they wanted to have their own biological child.
A hearing on Morgan's complaint had not yet been scheduled.
Morgan says in the complaint that she suspected Angela Vesely was pregnant when they met and that she asked an agency official about it. But the official said the adoptive mother was "just chubby, not pregnant," according to the complaint.
The agency generally tries to find out whether couples applying to adopt a child are already expecting children, said Karen Authier, executive director of the Nebraska Children's Home Society.
She would not say specifically how that is done if applying mothers are asked whether they are pregnant in a written application or whether caseworkers followed proper procedures in this case.
"We've been doing adoption for 115 years, and this is a most unusual case," Authier said. "We know that successful adoptions are based on a circle of trust and truth."
Advertisements
Here is the article I found:
Court says Verdigre couple should be able to adopt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The state Supreme Court ruled today that a northeast Nebraska couple should have a chance to adopt the boy they were ordered to give up earlier this year after adoption officials learned the couple did not disclose a pregnancy.
The court ruled the infant should never have been taken from Jason and Angela Vesely of Verdigre in February because nothing in the written agreement required the Veselys to tell the Nebraska Childrens Home Society about the pregnancy.
ғThe parties did not enter into any written agreement specifically stating that the Veselys would forfeit their rights to adopt Morgan if Angela Vesely became pregnant or if she were pregnant at the time Morgan was placed with them,Ғ the court said in its ruling.
The boys birth mother had said she wanted her son to be an only child with the adoptive family and that she wanted an open adoption.
The Veselys did not disclose during the screening process that Angela was pregnant, but theyҒve said they planned to tell the biological mother, Megan Lynn Morgan of Sutherland.
The Veselys said they were waiting to disclose the pregnancy because Angela had miscarried three children previously. Jason Vesely has said his wife was more than four months pregnant when the agency assigned the child to them in late 2007. They applied to adopt in 2005.
A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Childrens Home Society said Friday that officials would not comment on the case until after they finished reviewing the court decision.
And this:
Neb. boy will likely return to adoptive parents after court ruling
Associated Press - November 21, 2008 11:05 AM ET
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A young Nebraska boy will likely have his name and home changed again because of a new court ruling.
The boy had lived with a northeast Nebraska couple from the time he was 4 days old until a Knox County District Court judge ordered him removed in February at the age of 3 months.
The Nebraska Children's Home Society placed him with the biological mother's parents in Sutherland in central Nebraska after the February ruling.
The would-be adoptive parents, Jason and Angela Vesely (VESS-lee), called him Morgan Jason Vesely. But the boy's biological family called him Brett Jonathan Morgan.
A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Children's Home Society said Friday that officials would not comment on the case until after they finished reviewing the court decision.
Lawyers for the Veselys and for the boy's biological family did not immediately respond to messages left Friday morning.
So...what do you guys think????
This makes me sick. Fraud is fraud. If these were birthparents you would be hearing this and more. What about "The best interests of the child" and the "attachment" the child has with the parents who have raised him? UGH!
Well, we don't know WHY he is being moved again. Maybe the grandparents couldn't do it anymore. Or maybe birth mom changed her mind.
The article makes it sound as if it wasn't fraud after all - or am I reading it wrong?
All I can say is - that POOR kid...
Advertisements
NEWife
Just thought I'd update...it's in the news here in Omaha today that the State Supreme Court judge ruled the adoptive couple will have the chance to again adopt the baby!
Not sure how I feel about this...he's now been living with his grandparents since he was 3 months old and is almost 1. But I'm sure the adoptive couple is elated!!
Do you live in Omaha too??
Here's the court's decision:
[URL="http://court.nol.org/opinions/2008/november/nov21/s08-178.pdf"]http://court.nol.org/opinions/2008/november/nov21/s08-178.pdf[/URL]
It is one that I would say (as a lawyer) isn't exceptionally "well reasoned." But the Court found that there was nothing in writing that told the PAPs that they had to reveal the pg (I think they should have, though of course I totally felt bad for them when he was removed). And if the Court thought the agency was wrong, the remedy probably should be to have another hearing to determine what the best interest of the kid is at this point. (Instead, it orders him returned to the PAPs....almost like he is sack of potatoes!) So sad all around.
With nothing in the contract to stipulate that the paps had an obligation to disclose pregnancy, I don't see how fraud was committed. I just don't.
I think the court was wrong to remove the child in the first place, and I think that bouncing him around now is compounding it.
The agency should have their butts sued by the paps and the mom.
Advertisements
I don't know HOW I feel about this...
I'd love to know how each SIDE feels...Like the birthmom - (and I call her birthmom because I'm thinking that TPR was signed) how does she feel?
How does this little guys grandparents feel? Did they think their guardianship was temporary or permanent?
And the paparents - well, I guess we'll never know whether or not they "knew" the policy.
But in the end, my heart goes out to this little guy - he's the one who has been bandied about during this whole thing, when in reality, it should have been about his best interests.
musemoon
I read this article regarding the aparents.
[URL="http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:FjNhOdJcP_kJ:www.norfolkdailynews.com/main.asp%3FSectionID%3D3%26SubSectionID%3D104%26ArticleID%3D8413%26TM%3D27750.66+Jason+and+%22Angela+Vesely%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=firefox-a"]Attorney appointed for infant[/URL]
They lost three children all of whom died shortly after birth, their son was born at 28 weeks, just after the agency began demanding their adoptive son back, the bio son still remains in the hospital. Again I know the general concensous is this is a lying and betraying family, but really, three deaths???? and a premature birth, I think they have a real reason to believe that their child would not survive or they really wanted to be parents and where trying hard to do that. I'm not sure I could handle watching three of my children die....really. These people are not monsters.
I cannot imagine the complete devastation those aparents must have experienced. All they want is to be parents. To lose three children, the fourth one struggling for life and to face the real possibility of losing the son they've loved and cherished for three months must be unbelievably painful.
I feel terribly for them and I pray their newborn survives and that they can keep their 3 month old son.
It's got to be a living hell. I hope they have a wonderful support system.
Advertisements
Daisy1339
I cannot imagine the complete devastation those aparents must have experienced. All they want is to be parents. To lose three children, the fourth one struggling for life and to face the real possibility of losing the son they've loved and cherished for three months must be unbelievably painful.
I feel terribly for them and I pray their newborn survives and that they can keep their 3 month old son.
It's got to be a living hell. I hope they have a wonderful support system.
This all took place last winter, and their baby that was born premature is now home and doing well (I read that somewhere...can't remember where). Their adopted son is now 1...hopefully he can get some serious bonding in now!! Poor little guy, but I just pray they can now go on with a normal life. There were a lot of things that were mis-handled, unfortunately. Hopefully the birthmom is now accepting of the situation as well, so they can have a good relationship in the future!
Can I just blame the agency?
For such thing to happen, they probably never mentioned to the aparents that the bmom didn't want them to have a bio child. And didn't check with the aparents that it was their intention... Of course you can't make people promise that they won't be pregnant in the future, but if the agency had mentioned it, I'm quite sure the aparents would have said something about her being pregnant... and realized it would probably not be a good match.
Hopefully...