Foster parents get custody

Author: Judy Emerson; Staff RRS Metro

Dateline: Rockford, Illinois

Rockford Register Star

A custody fight over 7-year-old Bethany Scudder, whose adoptive mother died two years ago while facing a murder charge, was decided Thursday in favor of the child's foster parents.

Bethany was abandoned at birth in China and adopted at the age of 2 by Sandra Scudder of Loves Park. Scudder adopted another Chinese child three years later and named her Esther.

In June 2002, Esther died of brain injuries allegedly caused by shaking. Sandra Scudder was charged with killing the 22-month-old, but she died before the case went to trial.

(Full Story)

Adoption favors foster family

A judge rules that it would not be in Bethany Scudder's best interest if her aunt cared for her.

By JUDY EMERSON

Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - A Winnebago County Circuit Court judge has ruled that 7-year-old Bethany Scudder may be adopted by foster parents instead of by her dead mother's sister, who also wanted permanent custody of the child.

Bethany was adopted from a Chinese orphanage in 1998 by Loves Park postal worker Sandra Scudder. The child entered foster care two years ago when Scudder was charged with murder in the death of her other Chinese daughter, 22-month-old Esther.

An autopsy determined that Esther died of brain hemorrhaging due to blunt trauma to the head.

Scudder had not gone to trial when she died of ovarian cancer in October. The custody battle began shortly after that.

In her will, Scudder stated that she wanted her sister, Dian Little of Inverness, Fla., to raise Bethany. Little, a divorced office manager with a teenage daughter, wished to do so and filed a petition to adopt in Winnebago County.

The foster parents, who by that time had cared for the child for well over a year, filed a competing adoption petition.

Judge J. Todd Kennedy heard arguments from the two sides at a closed hearing in