Boy Granted ‘Divorce’ From Parents
SB-1148, now on Gov. Wilson’s desk for signature, would permit social workers to form nonprofit private “adoption agencies,” and to advise birth parents of their “rights”, including right to an attorney (not a legal-aid lawyer, but a lawyer paid for by the adopters, conflict of interest notwithstanding) when the birth parents sign irrevocable relinquishments of parental rights. “Irrevocable” means birth parents lose their due process right; there will be no appeal system to determine if these families were “misled” by social workers, who are not neutral arbiters and who have never before been permitted to give legal advice. In fact, it is currently against the law for social services to publish adoption disclosure laws. The message is clear: The almighty buck, not the Constitution, determines the child’s “rights.”
LORI CARANGELO
Executive Director
Americans for Open Records (AmFOR)
Palm Desert
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