Mo. court sides with immigrant in adoption appeal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo--The Missouri Supreme Court has sided with a Guatemalan immigrant in a child custody case, ruling the state failed to follow its laws in terminating her parental rights and allowing her son to be adopted by someone else.

But Tuesday's decision does not automatically return the child to the mother. Instead, the court ordered the state to follow proper procedures and hold a new trial on whether the mother's parental rights should be terminated.

Encarnacion Bail Romero lost custody of her infant son after she was caught up in a 2007 immigration sweep and sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

A court terminated Romero's parental rights in 2008 and granted adoption to Seth and Melinda Moser, of Carthage. The child now is at least age 4.