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Baby Jane

Sunday, August 25, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ADOPTION: Request raises questions on rights

Girl, 12, wants names and addresses of natural and adoptive parents of biological siblings

Baby Jane was born addicted to drugs, suffered seizures and faced long odds of ever having a normal life.

At six months, authorities took her from her mother and placed her in the same foster home as her three older sisters, all of whom were moved through the system within a year to other homes.

One was adopted, another went to her biological father and the oldest remained in the state's child welfare system.

But the foster family held on to Baby Jane, refusing to be daunted by her disabilities. They adopted her in November at age 3.

"We were hooked a week after we got her," said Jessie, the child's adoptive mother, who asked that her real name and that of her daughter not be revealed. "She was the chunkiest, most lovable thing you would ever see, with eyes that would just melt your heart. She was so small, so tiny."

Jessie and her husband, who have adopted several other foster children, took Baby Jane to specialists and learned to give her therapy. Soon, she was crawling, and as she grew, eventually did most things other children her age could do.

"She's 4 years old now," Jessie said. "We got her talking. She has problems with her letters and numbers. She's delayed, but we're working on that."

Now, the family faces another challenge.

Baby Jane's oldest sister is asking for visitation rights. With the help of an attorney from the nonprofit Clark County Legal Services Children's Attorney Project, the 12-year-old has asked for the release of the names and mailing addresses of the natural and adoptive parents of all her siblings.

The request, which for now has been granted and is still being fought, has raised questions about the rights of children and adoptive parents.

Jessie said breaking the confidentiality of the adoption would violate her rights and authority as a parent to decide who has contact with her daughter.

"This would bring forth a lot of confusion in my baby's eyes and would cause confusion in the house," she said. "When she's 16 or 18 I have no problem explaining to her that she's adopted. And if at that time she wants to meet her other siblings, that's fine. I won't hide it from her when she's old enough."

The 12-year-old's attorney, Maria Perez, declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality issues.

But Steve Hiltz, lead attorney for the Children's Attorney Project, said sibling separation is not uncommon in Nevada. Until recently most children in the state child welfare system did not have access to legal representation beyond court appointed advocates, he said.

The advocates generally are social workers and are not trained in the legal field. They attempt to represent the child's best interest, rather than what the child might want, Hiltz said. The attorneys on the project primarily represent children who have been victims of abuse or neglect and are in the state's child welfare system, he said.

"We try to get them what they want if it's at all safe," Hiltz said. "The problem in Nevada is that kids were not represented and no one was raising the issue (of visitation). Most of the time, these issues should be resolved before final adoption."

Although he could not comment directly on the case involving Baby Jane and her older sister, Hiltz said children whose brothers or sisters get adopted while they remain in the system suffer from tremendous loss.

"These children in foster care are so lost, they don't have anything resembling a real childhood," he said. "They have therapists and social workers, foster homes and a life of getting shuffled around. They have nothing but perhaps a great longing for their siblings. Even if they haven't been together in years, many times they still talk about their siblings, remember their names and know how old they are. Their siblings might be the only connection to any real family life."

Earlier this month, Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle granted the older sister's request. But the deputy attorney general working the case has filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider.

Tom Sargent, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, said the office in this case represents neither Baby Jane's adoptive parents or the 12-year-old.

"The state's perspective is that we are to guard the confidentiality of the information contained in the records," he said.

Sargent said under state law, relatives of adoptees may seek visitation if they file their petitions before the biological parental rights are terminated. He said state law also holds that all adoption proceedings are confidential and closed except to certain parties entitled to the information, such as an attorney involved in the case. Otherwise, the information can be released only upon court order and only to a parent and child eligible to receive the information.

Annette Appell, a law professor specializing in adoption at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Baby Jane's case is indicative of the state's struggle to address sibling visitation in adoption scenarios.

"The state is sensitive to sibling contact, at least in theory," she said. "But at least in Southern Nevada, the caseloads are huge. How much time can a social worker spend on each case?"

Appell said courts across the country so far have been split on whether siblings of adoptees have visitation rights. She said 18 states have laws that address post-adoption contact with birth relatives, although those laws are far from perfect.

In Nevada, however, unless an arrangement can be made between the adoptive parents and biological relatives before adoption, the assumption is that siblings don't have the right to visitation.

"The decree of adoption cuts off the legal relationship between the adoptee and all members of the adoptees birth family," Appell said.

Local and national adoption experts contend sibling connections are generally encouraged by courts and are beginning to become a priority in most state child welfare systems.

"Current social work practice now is to promote sibling contact," said Joe Kroll, executive director of the North American Council on Adoptable Children. Secrecy, he said, is a bad idea.

He said that for adopted children, knowing where they come from often becomes a crucial part of their identity development. Some want to become more connected to their ethnic cultures while others strive to meet and rekindle relationships with their biological parents or relatives.

Most foster and adoptive families now are encouraged to prevent the severing of positive relationships from their children's lives. And with today's diverse family structures, some adoptive parents help children maintain relationships with past foster parents, biological grandparents and other relatives.

The notion that children should be shielded from the truth of their adoption or any relationships from their past is antiquated, Kroll said.

"The notion of secrecy had to do with the label of being infertile and the scarlet letter of having a child out of wedlock," he said. "Now, we have kids going on TV asking for parents. Older kids who need help and need families are letting the public know."

Leroy Pelton, a child welfare professor in the UNLV School of Social Work, said adoption laws traditionally favor adults and don't serve the children's best interest.

"When the children ask to see sealed records, the system tells them a promise (of confidentiality) was made to their parents or adopted parents. Well, who gave them right to make such a promise without input from the children themselves?" he said.

But Jessie said her reluctance to introduce Baby Jane to her biological siblings also stems from a fear they might be in contact with the biological mother, the woman who gave birth to drug-addicted babies. Jessie said that for months, she and her husband worked to bring the biological family back together, but the biological mother failed to complete court-mandated tasks to regain custody of her children. Those tasks included attending drug rehabilitation programs and finding work. The courts terminated the woman's parental rights in 2000.

"If the older sister gets visitation, I'd definitely have a fear of someone walking off with my child," Jessie said. "If the older sister is in contact with her biological mother, I don't want that person banging on my door."

Janet Ward, a social work specialist for National Court Appointed Special Advocates, said the scenario Jessie fears is highly unlikely. She said in most states, visitation, if granted, is closely monitored and usually starts gradually in a therapeutic neutral context.

"It would be a rare and uneducated judge who would just give information to a 12-year-old and turn her loose with it," Ward said. "I don't think there's a real risk that the teen would whisk the child back to its biological mother."

Nonetheless, Jessie says she's the mother and she wants to protect her child.

"I'm the only mother she's ever known," she said.