Posted on 08/08/2002 11:02:55 AM PDT by theoriginalgriff
BOCA RATON -- Rodger and Dawn Schneider are more than ready to adopt Neena, a 2-year-old girl born to an unwed teenager.
But first, Neena's 16-year-old mom must agree to take out newspaper ads identifying herself by name and address, and listing the names of all of the boys she had sex with when she was 13 years old, during the 12 months before Neena was born.
The ads must run once a week for four weeks, and appear in publications in any city or county where Neena might have been conceived.
Under new state law, which was overwhelmingly passed by the Florida Legislature last year, Neena's mother must give the missing dad one last chance to block the adoption.
Women who don't know the identities of the children's fathers are required to place the ads to complete the adoption. In the process, a possibly shameful secret might be revealed to friends and relatives who may not know why the teenager suddenly moved from Long Island to Florida.
The requirements, the result of a new Florida law that's just beginning to take effect, violate privacy rights guaranteed by the state constitution, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Peter Blanc ruled on July 24. Blanc's ruling protects rape victims only, not women -- or girls -- who engage in consensual sex.
"These kinds of laws discourage people from adopting," said lawyer Charlotte Danciu, who has challenged the state law on behalf of six mothers, including a 12-year-old rape victim. The judge agreed with Danciu that the law should protect rape victims, but the lawyer plans to appeal that ruling to extend the protection to all women.
No one knows who Neena's biological father is. Neena's mom, now living in St. Lucie County, "had sexual relations with numerous classmates," according to Blanc's ruling.
The Schneiders, of Port St. Lucie, doubt Neena's father would ever identify himself and face the consequences of having committed statutory rape.
"She conceived at 13. Do you think anyone's going to come forward?" Rodger Schneider said. "The boys knew she was pregnant, and nobody came forward."
The disclosure requirement became effective in October but its reach is just now being felt, as adoption petitions filed last year proceed through the courts.
Its supporters say all they wanted to do was prevent biological fathers from challenging adoptions after the fact and disrupting newly formed family bonds.
"It's something to ensure that when couples adopt a child, it's going to be final," said state Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, the bill's prime backer last year.
The state Department of Children and Families did not oppose Danciu's request. Agency lawyers could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Some of Danciu's clients were promiscuous during periods of drug and alcohol abuse, according to Blanc's ruling. Another is a woman in her 30s who was raped by three men who gave her a "date rape" drug in a bar, according to Blanc's ruling. Danciu said more than a dozen clients have told her they would rather have abortions than subject themselves to the shame of the newspaper ads.
The adoption law was conceived six years ago by then-Sen. Frederick Dudley, now a lobbyist for the Florida Bar's Family Law Section. When told about Blanc's ruling, Dudley conceded that minors, and victims of rape and incest, should not be forced to reveal their past.
Jeanne Tate, immediate past president of the Florida Adoption Council, said many adoption lawyers will be dealing with this issue sooner or later.
"I had a Caucasian woman whose father is a Baptist minister," she said. "She slept with a married black man who is a college professor.
"Can you imagine publishing this in Palatka, Fla.?"
Why should a man who has so little contact with a pregnant woman that he doesn't even know she has had a baby have any rights to the child at all? What has happened to responsibility?
I think you're on to something.
At any rate, florida is going straight down the tubes IMHO. (you gonna make the Dame Elton John fund raiser for reno?....It's only $500 a ticket...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
FMCDH
End of "father's rights".
"If the "father" has no right to know that his child is being adopted without his consent, then what gives the "mother" of any child conceived under similar circumstances any legal right to child support from the "father" when the child is not being adopted?"
"...nobody came forward" indicates nobody claimed the responsibility to pay child support or object to the adoption.
One can get a more clear picture of the hoops that must be gone through when they have personally pursued the adoption of a child. Believe me, the ordeal is rigorous and adoptive parents are treated as second class citizens when considering the wants and whims of our socialist servants....
I'll second that.
Exactly right. This law is an insane response to the insanity with which the legal system too often has treated the conflicting claims of biological and adoptive parents. There is no reason on earth a "father" in a situation like this should be able to claim parental rights after an adoption has been finalized, and if the courts had held to that principle, this law would never have been passed. As it is, it is almost certain to increase pressure to abort.
Our own adoptive daughter was conceived in a sex-for-pay situation. If public notice of this sort had been required, she might not be alive today.
Does this answer any of them?
The Schneiders, of Port St. Lucie, doubt Neena's father would ever identify himself and face the consequences of having committed statutory rape.
And a universal fingerprint database as well. And universal ankle bracelets so the government could keep track of what people were up to at all times.
Freedom!? We don't need no stee'nking freedom.
Let's try the same thing for girls seeking an abortion.
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