Adoption Protest
“Hundreds of families made their adoptions final at the Polk County Courthouse during the “Adoption Saturday” event.
For some adoptive families it can take months even years for the state and or adoption agencies to make sure the home is suitable and stable for children to be adopted into. After three years of caring for her now son, Cayden, Julie Hess, says today was about giving Cayden a better life.
“They don`t have to worry about where they are gonna go the next day or the day after, its permanency for them.”
However there are some families not in favor of “Adoption Saturday.”
“I want them back. They should have never been taken from me,” says Jeanne Munson as she protest outside of the courthouse.
She says family members should be considered first before children of the state are adopted by what she calls “strangers.”
“They shouldn’t be taking these kids away from parents and grandparents and families that love them then putting them in a strange home,” says Munson.
Munson cared for her four young grandchildren until the Department of Human Services removed and separated them into different homes in 2009. The last time she saw all four of her grandchildren together was this summer.
Munson says the courts and the Department of Human Services did not take into consideration the children’s well – being under her care. Instead she says the state is corrupt by purposely trying to divide families and luring adoptive families with cash.
“That`s how they get people to adopt children and that`s how they get foster families to adopt children is by giving them a paycheck.”
For over a year, Munson and the other protestors have met with legislators to pass a bill allowing family members easier access to adopt relatives. Munson says, ” We want to make sure that families get the opportunity to adopt these children or take a guardianship over them before the state can get a hold of them.”
However, if it wasn’t for the state and other adoption agencies, Hess says there would be nothing worth celebrating on “Adoption Saturday.”
“He needs a safe environment for his young life. That`s what he needs.”
The group of protestors plan to meet with legislators next week.”
We Want Our Kids Back,’ Protestors Gather Outside Courthouse on Adoption Saturday[WHO TV 11/15/14 by Jodi Whitworth]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
The problem is, lots of states already HAVE “relative placement preference” laws on the books, but they haven’t helped. Somehow it’s always judged that it’s “in the best interests of the child” to allow the non-related foster parents to adopt.
The law would need to state that UNLESS there is a specific, objective reason to deny relative custody– such as past conviction for child molestation, for example– the placement SHOULD go to biological relatives. The belief that the foster parents would do a “better” job raising the kid(s) is all too often skewed by the class, race, and religious biases of the CPS workers and/or family court judges. Especially and particularly if the privatized CPS contractee is a religious NGO.