The court would have had a helluva time asking a 2 year old what she wanted, don’t you think ?
Ok, so you want what’s best for the child? Let’s see how this little scenario plays: Say you have a child, but you’re a redneck living in a cabin in some remote area. You are really struggling. You’re not well educated. Your prospects are not good. In fact, they’re downright bleak. You’ve been accused of a crime you didn’t commit, too. So you put your child in foster care and she was sent to me for a year.
I am an Ivy-educated Boston Brahmin. I am rich and powerful. I have a loving wife and children, beautiful home, too. I want your to keep your child when you want to claim her after the year is up. And I have the resources to tie you up in the court for years, trying to get her back.
Well, certainly I can provide better for your child than you can! So the courts should turn your child over to me. After all, the opportunities I can provide are what’s best for your child. You wouldn’t mind making that sacrifice, right?
Um, did you read the article ? The child is 9. She's not a toddler.
"Ok, so you want what’s best for the child? Let’s see how this little scenario plays: Say you have a child, but you’re a redneck living in a cabin in some remote area. You are really struggling. You’re not well educated. Your prospects are not good. In fact, they’re downright bleak. You’ve been accused of a crime you didn’t commit, too. So you put your child in foster care and she was sent to me for a year."
"I am an Ivy-educated Boston Brahmin. I am rich and powerful. I have a loving wife and children, beautiful home, too. I want your to keep your child when you want to claim her after the year is up. And I have the resources to tie you up in the court for years, trying to get her back."
"Well, certainly I can provide better for your child than you can! So the courts should turn your child over to me. After all, the opportunities I can provide are what’s best for your child. You wouldn’t mind making that sacrifice, right?"
Tactics aside, the child WOULD be better off with the family that could provide them the most advantaged life. And, yes, if I were the aforementioned family, if I cared about that child's well-being, I WOULD make that sacrifice. Wanting that child returned to me under such dire circumstances when I could have them grow up under better conditions wouldn't speak well to me as a parent. Again, we can argue the foster family's tactics were questionable, but giving the child the best upbringing possible was not.