Allison Quets' Case Brings Attention to Adoption Corruption

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Allison’s Case Brings Attention to Adoption Corruption

Allison Quets has gained international attention, after having a visit with her twins, taking them to Canada, and being arrested for kidnapping.

Now the adoption industry is being looked at with a microscope, suggesting that its practices are unethical in cases like Allison’s. According to the Ottawa Sun,

Quets’ case has garnered international attention and won the support of many who feel the adoption system is rigged against birth mothers.

“Ninety percent of the women we see … feel they were completely and totally violated when they surrendered the rights of their children,” said Sheri Sexton, director of the Ontario branch of Origins Canada, an advocacy group for mothers who lost children through adoption.

Today, the courts will listen to her case regarding the charges brought against her. It is a very complex case.

She revoked her consent for adoption within hours after signing. Through her whole pregnancy, she had been very ill with a severe case of Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

One concern not yet discussed, are the open adoption laws of Florida, and how they affected her adoption, which had begun in Florida, but yet her twins had been residing in NC.

In the newest PR of Open Adoptions, mothers are told that they have the abillity to be a part of their child’s life. They can receive pictures, updates, emails, phone calls and visitation. In this way, it would almost seem like a co-parenting setup, whereas everyone is respected, and has some control over the agreements.

However, this is far from the case. According to Exiled Mothers,

Open Adoption is a myth in most cases, used in order to convince women to surrender their children so agencies can make money and adopters can obtain children. Once you relinquish, you have NO LEGAL RIGHT in ANY STATE OR PROVINCE to see your child. If you upset the adoptive parents, or if they NEVER INTENDED for the adoption to be open in the first place, then you are out of luck!!! Adoptive parents hold all the parental rights. You will legally have no more right to see your child than any other stranger would. Even mediation and courts cannot help if they decide to move to another state.

It was only because the adoption had not yet been finalized that Allison Quets had unsupervised visits. If she had not kept the court hearings going, she would have lost her parental rights, and possibly never seen her children again.

The Needhams had already broken the visitation agreement. According to Across Canada,

In early December, the adoptive parents failed to bring the children for a court-mandated visit with Quets, who eventually got a court order to compel the adoptive family to let her see them.

It was only because she still has her parental rights, that she was able to get the court order and force visitations. Once her rights are terminated, it is up to the potential adoptive parents, who already have shown they are not going to respect the contract.

Another problem with open adoptions, is that they are not legally enforceable. Most women who did not have the resources Allison did ($400,000 to fight the case) are typically unable to find or pay for a lawyer to enforce visitations, pictures, updates and other contact. Therefore, about 85% of adoptions close, most of them closed by adoptive parents.

Currently, there are many people interested in the case. According to Adoption Crossroads, a site run by Joe Soll, who is a Psychologist and was adopted,

175 million people in the U.S. whose lives are directly affected by adoption.

Many people, adopted persons, adoptive parents, and natural mothers and fathers are watching this case closely. Many, including adoptive parents, have sided with Allison, saying that she wants to be a parent, and should have the opportunity to do so. Many people believe that this shows the corruption of current adoption laws, and do not want unethical adoptions to happen. Adoptive parents have responded by saying, “What would you say to the child? Your mother wanted you, fought for you, but we thought we should have you?” Hundreds of people have signed a Petition calling for an investigation and asking for her twins to be returned to her.

Websites of interest:

Ottawa Sun: http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2007/01/04/3155545-sun.html
Hyperemesis Gravidarum: http://helpher.org/
Exiled Mothers: http://www.exiledmothers.com/open_adoption/index.html
Access Canada: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/12/31/3097858-cp.html
Adoption Crossroads: http://www.adoptioncrossroads.org/adptfact.shtml
Petition site:http://www.petitiononline.com/aislin/petition.html