ADOPTION DECISIONS QUESTIONED; JUDGE ASKS WHY TEEN GIRLS ARE ALLOWED TO GIVE UP BABIES WITHOUT PARENTS' CONSENT

Akron Beacon Journal (OH)

Author: Rick Armon, Beacon Journal staff writer

A state appeals court judge has expressed concern that teenage mothers are allowed to give up children for adoption in Ohio without their parents being consulted.

In a decision released Wednesday in a local adoption case, 9th District Court of Appeals Judge Donna J. Carr said it's troubling that minors are restricted from entering into other legal contracts, but not adoptions.

''We allow 16-year-olds, and those even younger, to independently decide to permanently terminate the relationship of parent and child without the advice of their own parent or perhaps the counsel of a guardian ad litem or attorney,'' she wrote in a three-page addendum to the court's decision.

Only Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Guam and Puerto Rico require the consent of the minor's parents in an adoption, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The local adoption case involves a Canton teen who has accused A Child's Waiting, a private agency in Copley Township, of urging her to run away from home so her parents wouldn't interfere.

Stephanie Bennett has been fighting to regain custody of her daughter, Evelyn, since 2006, saying she regretted her initial decision. Evelyn was only a few months old at the time.

The agency has denied Bennett's claims and has fought to keep from having to return the child.

On Wednesday, the court rejected Bennett's appeal of a Summit County Juvenile Court judge's ruling that determined that the Probate Court, not Juvenile Court, had jurisdiction in the matter. Probate Court has yet to rule on the final adoption.

Because Bennett surrendered the child to a private agency, the mother lost the protection of a juvenile court review given to other parents giving up their children to a public agency, Carr noted.

''In this case, there are allegations that the minor mother's act of signing the permanent surrender agreement was not a voluntary act, but was done under duress,'' Carr wrote. ''The added layer of safeguards included in a review by the juvenile court might have best and most efficiently served the interests of both this minor mother and her child.''

A Child's Waiting has said an attorney consulted with Bennett before she made her decision to give up the child.

State investigators also have concluded that there was no evidence that Bennett was asked to run away. But the agency was cited for several procedural and paperwork violations related to the adoption.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced last May that it was reviewing the agency's state license because of the Bennett case and a history of similar violations. The license expired last September and remains under review, said Dennis Evans, a department spokesman.

The agency is permitted to continue operating during the review process.

Bennett's attorney, Jennifer Lowry, said she had not read the appeals court decision and could not comment.

A telephone message seeking comment was left with an attorney representing A Child's Waiting.

The agency was founded in 2000 and has handled about 1,400 adoptions since then, according to the agency's Web site.

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com