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Friday, February 10, 2006

Ind. Decisions - More on: Morgan County lesbian couple fight to keep child [Updated]

On October 15th, 2005 the ILB had an entry quoting from an AP story that a "lesbian couple from Morgan County has gone to the Indiana Court of Appeals to win the adoption of a 1-year-old girl approved by a judge in one county but denied by a judge in another."

Today the case was argued before the Court of Appeals. You may watch the oral argument here. Here is the Court's synopsis of the case:

The Matter of Infant Girl W., The Adoption of M.W.
Case Number: 55A01-0506-JV-289

Synopsis: In a CHINS proceeding, the Morgan Juvenile Court entered an order finding the best interest of the child to be adoption by a “couple.” The court defined “couple” to mean “a man and woman that are married.” The foster-adoptive parents, lesbian partners with whom the child had resided since shortly after her birth, obtained a decree of adoption in the Marion Probate Court. The adoptive parents then moved to dismiss the CHINS proceeding. The Morgan Juvenile Court denied the motion and refused to recognize the Marion Probate Court’s adoption decree in the CHINS proceeding. The Court of Appeals granted the adoptive parents’ interlocutory appeal from the Morgan Juvenile Court’s denial of their motion to dismiss the CHINS proceeding, and the State appealed from the Marion Probate Court’s adoption decree. The appeals were consolidated because they arise from a common nucleus of facts.

The Scheduled Panel Members are: Judges Baker, Najam and Vaidik

[Updated 2/11/06] Today's papers have no stories on yesterday's oral arguments. (Although I did see a brief story on Channel 6 last evening.)

But today's Cincinnati Enquirer contains this story about a bill introduced in the Ohio General Assembly. Some quotes:

COLUMBUS - Gays, bisexuals and anyone who's undergone a sex change would be banned from adopting or raising foster children under a bill introduced this week and backed by two Southwest Ohio legislators.

House Bill 515, introduced Thursday, bars any adoptive or foster child from being placed in the private residence "of a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender person." Florida is the only state with such a ban. * * *

Critics of the proposal see it as politically motivated, introduced to attract votes. At least six other states are debating similar bills.

"It's the wedge issue for the next election," said Susan Truitt, legal projects coordinator for the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University in Columbus. "It's the get-out-the-vote for the right-wing nuts.

"There is always a shortage of foster homes all over the country," Truitt said. "To exclude an entire segment of the population from the opportunity to foster or adopt is a disservice to these children."

Equality Ohio and the American Civil Liberties Union called the proposal divisive and harmful.

"This bill is blatant discrimination in its worst form,'' said Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU of Ohio. "It will only cause families to be ripped apart, children to be denied a loving home and the social services systems in Ohio to be flooded with children who would have been otherwise placed in healthy environments."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 10, 2006 07:09 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions