J&J Heiress and her Post-Cambodia Ban Adoption
Yeah, money had nothing to do with this case…
Heiress Libet Johnson (aunt to now-deceased Kazakhstan adoptive parent Casey Johnson) and her boyfriend Dr. Lionel Bissoon “have apparently mended fences and ended a six-year cutthroat custody battle over a Cambodian orphan, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.
Manhattan Surrogate’s Court judge finally gave Johnson the go-ahead to become the adoptive mother of the 9-year-old boy she has cared for since he was an infant. The approval came with the blessing of Dr. Lionel Bissoon, her former boyfriend and the child’s adopted father.”
Background
Daily Mail says in 2003″The pair tried to legally adopt William together after Ms Johnson – who was in the boy’s home country of Cambodia to start a $10 million charity for its orphans – brought him to America as a toddler under a humanitarian visa.
At that time, however, the U.S. had a moratorium on Cambodian adoptions.”
DNAInfo.com says that they “found him as a 6-month-old in Cambodia. A real estate dabbler and philanthropist, Johnson was in the country after starting a $10 million charity to help its orphans.
At the time she and Bissoon — a weight-loss expert whose clients included Roberta Flack — had been dating for five months and wanted to keep the baby. They applied for adoption with the Cambodian government, but the United States had a moratorium on adopting the country’s children.
The would-be parents managed to bring William back to the states through a humanitarian visa based on alleged medical problems.”
“Back in New York, Johnson and Bissoon looked for ways to skirt the moratorium. Bissoon claimed membership in an Native American tribe and tried to adopt the child in his native country, Trinidad and Tobago, but neither scheme worked, the decision says.
During that time, the boy lived with Johnson in her $62.3 million triplex in the Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park, being cared for by a nanny who had raised her four biological kids. Bissoon “was a constant visitor, was acknowledged as William’s father, and he and his family were very much a part of William’s life,” according to the decision.
But when the couple’s relationship soured in 2005, Johnson blocked Bissoon from seeing William. A year later she sought sole adoption of William and was granted one by Glen.
When he learned of what transpired, Bissoon challenged the adoption.”
Daily Mail says “Ms Johnson initially blocked her ex from seeing William, but in 2007 it was revealed that she had failed to tell the judge that she and Dr Bissoon had previously tried to adopt the child together.
She had also neglected to inform Judge Glen of her recent stint in rehab for alcohol.”
DNAInfo.com says “With the legal win, Bissoon was re-introduced into William’s life while Johnson remained the primary caregiver.
The case dragged on in appeals for three more years, with both sides hurling accusations of bad parenting. Johnson’s lawyers claimed Bissoon was seeking a payday while his team painter her as a liar.
The case was sealed during that time, but both sides spoke publicly about the tug-of-war over the child.
In 2010, to the chagrin of Johnson, New York’s highest court upheld Glen’s decision. However, the ruling managed to thaw the frosty relationship between her and Bissoon.
Glen notes in her 2012 decision — which was not sealed — that after the Court of Appeal’s ruling, Johnson began negotiations with Bissoon and described the situation as “much like that of two divorced parents … with both sharing, however uncomfortably at times, decision-making authority.”
The big winner in the adoption is William, who gets a legal mommy and a right to a lot of dough.
Glen says in her decision that “adoption will offer such a child numerous economic benefits, including the significant right of financial support from both of his parents.”
The second-parent adoption will also allow the 9-year-old to apply for resident alien status and, eventually, U.S. citizenship. Glen notes that his medical visa expired and his current immigration status “is, at best, tenuous.”
Neither Bissoon nor Johnson’s lawyer returned a call for comment.”
The Heiress-friendly background can be read here. Even though she is quite wealthy, we are all supposed to swoon that she put $100,000 in a trust fund for him.
Sources:
Heiress Libet Johnson Adopts Cambodian Orphan After 6-Year Fight With Ex
[DNA info.com New York 2/25/13 by James Fanelli]
[Daily Mail 2/26/13 by Margot Peppers]
Johnson & Johnson heiress Libet Johnson loses custody of Cambodian boy she has been raising
[NY Daily News 2/16/10 by Katie Nelson]
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