Florida Father’s Rights Case
“A Brevard County father has lost his nearly 4-year fight for custody of the young daughter he’s never seen.
Douglas Beam, the attorney for Merritt Island’s Vinton Moton, said a judge decided to terminate his client’s parental rights.
Moton has also lost his lawsuit against Home at Last, a Cocoa Beach adoption agency.
Moton was locked up in the Brevard County Jail on assault charges when the child was born in April 2010. Those charges were later dropped.
When Moton was released, he said he had no idea his wife had gone through an adoption agency. The girl was now with new parents out of state, who were working to adopt her.
Moton claims the adoption was done without his consent.
The attorney for Home at Last, an adoption agency in Cocoa Beach, maintained they sent Moton papers two times while he was behind bars, informing him of his wife’s decision to place the child up for adoption.
But the attorney said Moton never got in touch with them.
They plan to appeal the judge’s decision, Beam said.
The lawsuit against Home at Last is still pending.”
Judge terminates Merritt Island father’s parental rights[News13 2/26/14 By Greg Pallone]
“A Brevard County father continues his fight for custody of a young daughter he’s never seen.
In court Tuesday, a judge ruled an evidentiary hearing will be held so both sides can make their case.
We were not permitted inside the courtroom. The judge based his decision because of the private nature of the proceedings.
Following the ruling, Vinton Moton, of Merritt Island, and his attorneys appeared a short time later.
“Continuously he’s asked for them to return his child, and Home at Last refuses,” said Moton’s attorney Douglas Beam.
The adoption agency Home at Last is based in Cocoa Beach.
Beam claims the agency is doing everything it can to get a judge to terminate his parental rights.
Moton has yet to see or speak to his daughter, who turns four in April.
“They need us to show they are loved,” Moton said. “She needs that. I need that.”
When the child was born in 2010, Moton was locked up in the Brevard County Jail on assault charges, which were later dropped.
When Moton was released, he said he had no idea to his wife had gone through an adoption agency. The girl is now with new parents who are working to adopt her.
He claims this was done without his consent.
“It’s frustrating that something like this is happening to me in America, in the state of Florida,” Moton said.
Moton’s former mother-in-law and the child’s grandmother, Jacqueline Geyer, came to court to show support for him.
“I love my daughter,” Geyer said. “But you have to do the right thing. Vinton is a great guy, a wonderful man. He never gave up his parental rights.”
The attorney for Home at Last maintains they sent Moton papers twice while he was behind bars to inform him of his wife’s decision to place the child up for adoption.
However, the attorney said Moton never got in touch with them.
Moton is seeking to get his daughter back, along with $15,000 in damages.
The adoption agency’s lawyer said he cannot comment on family court proceedings as they are confidential.
The judge has yet to set a date for the hearing.”
Merritt Island father fights to regain custody of 3-year-old daughter[Bay News 9 1/21/14 By Greg Pallone]
“Vinton Moton’s daughter is now 3 years old, and a judge is set to decide next week whether Moton should have to give up his parental rights.
Moton, 47, has filed a lawsuit against the Cocoa Beach adoption agency his wife, Gabrielle Christensen, used to find prospective parents. The Merritt Island man claims his parental rights were violated when Christensen gave up the baby in April 2010, while he was in the Brevard County Jail on charges that were later dropped.
“I just want my daughter. I want to raise her,” said Moton, who has never seen or talked to his daughter in person.
When she was still a week old, Moton’s daughter was placed with an adoptive family out of state, just one day before Moton was released from jail.
“It knocked me to the ground. My mind was just blank,” Moton said. “I did not know how to feel. I said, ‘Lord, this just cannot be.'”
Moton’s attorney, Douglas Beam, said the Home At Last Adoption Agency has done everything it can to get a judge to sever his client’s parental rights.
“We have an adoption agency which has admitted in court that it placed the child with a couple out of state without Mr. Moton’s consent,” said Beam.
Home At Last countered, claiming Moton abandoned the child. Attorney Mark Hartig said the agency twice sent Moton papers while he was behind bars, telling him of his wife’s intent to put the child up for adoption, but he never got in touch with them.
“It is disappointing that Mr. Moton has decided to try his case for money damages for himself in the court of public opinion,” Hartig said in a statement. “Home At Last is committed to protecting the legal rights of the child in this case and has complied with all legal requirements to move toward a successful adoption. Mr. Moton’s lawsuit for money damages lacks merit, and we have full confidence that we will ultimately prevail in the lawsuit.”
Moton is seeking more than $15,000 in damages and a court order declaring the adoption agency wrongfully removed the child from his custody.
Through all this, the 3-year-old girl can neither be officially adopted, nor sent back to Moton until things are resolved.
“She hasn’t been returned. Instead they’ve been fighting all this time, trying to permanently take my daughter away from me,” said Moton.
Although Christensen gave consent, court documents showed she initially lied to the adoption agency about being married.”
Brevard dad: My daughter was put up for adoption without my consent[News 13 1/16/14]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
CommentSeparated at Birth: The kidnapping of my daughter
Vinton Moton United States
Hello World:
Did you think it was possible in the United States of America for a married natural/legal father to be deprived of the custody of his newborn, legitimate, first and only child (born into an intact marriage) without his consent?
I didn’t, but it happened to me.
In November, 2009 my then-wife, who was pregnant at that time, had me wrongfully jailed on a fabricated domestic abuse charge, which was eventually dismissed.
However, while in jail and unbeknownst to me my then-wife was visited and interviewed on December 30, 2009 by an agent of Home At Last Adoption Agency (owned by Dr. Rachel Fornes, wife of the late Al Neuharth, founder of Florida Today and USA TODAY) about putting our unborn child up for adoption. On April 7, 2010, while I was still jailed on the false charge, my first and only child was born and just 8 days after her birth she was place into the hands and custody of a family from Massachusetts without my consent and against my will.
The very next day (April 16, 2010) I was released on bond from jail and was not told my daughter’s whereabouts. For years I was never informed of my daughter’s location. From the onset I have been inadequately informed and represented in legal proceedings to terminate my parental rights and thwarted in my attempts to gain custody of my Daughter, who I named Abigail Moton (unbeknownst to her). Eventually, after 4 years of court actions by a court that lacked jurisdiction, my parental rights were allegedly “terminated”, on top of my Daughter being illegally taken away from me.
Even though my then-wife initially informed the Adoption Agency that we were married and provided them with my name and location at the jail on December 30, 2009, the Adoption Agency refused to timely inform me of my then-wife’s sole intent to put our Daughter up for adoption. In fact, I was never provided timely notice of the illegal placement of my Daughter in order to be meaningfully heard on the matter. My parental rights were completely ignored, as were my superior custody rights, despite record evidence of my Daughter’s KIDNAPPING, and illegal placement in the adoptive home without my consent (HUMAN TRAFFICKING). Brutalized by the agony of not having ever seen my Daughter, not once ever holding my first and only child or speaking to her, I still held on to the belief that the Court system would straighten this mess out.
However, despite Judge Charles Crawford (Brevard County, Florida) going on record at a June 13, 2011 court proceeding and stating to the attorney for the Adoption Agency:
“You realize that had he called the police department, they would have come and taken that child from Home At Last Adoption Agency and he testified that he didn’t do that.”
Not one court or judge has afforded me due process or equal protection and allowed me to parent my LEGITIMATE firstborn and only child. Instead, she was allowed to be wrongfully ripped apart from her natural/legal father who objected to the adoption. It was of no consequence that my Daughter’s mother and my now ex-wife consented to the “adoption” and relinquished her parental rights when by marriage I possessed equal rights to the custody, care and maintenance of our Daughter.
It’s just seems that something as unusual as this should not occur in America.
However, it did and not only do I want this arbitrary action corrected, I would also like to see that it does not happen to another American family. My case represents an intrusion on the highly valued American rights to marry, procreate and parent children.
Please join me in sharing the facts of this case because doing so will bring exposure to the threat the rights of all U.S. Citizens to marry, procreate and parent children. Share this story and please comment on the facts and how they affect you, and ask me questions if you would like.
Together, let’s be a voice to officials in our Country and request protection of our most basic and traditional of rights, as well as request a review and correction of this case.