Today’s post, the first in a series, will take a closer look at a very interesting adoption case out of Missouri. Specifically, the Supreme Court of Missouri was called upon to decide whether to restore the parental rights of a woman who was detained and subsequently incarcerated following an immigration raid and whose then six-month old son was purportedly adopted without her consent during this time.
Facts
In May 2007, Encarnacion Bail Romero was detained during an illegal immigration raid at a poultry plant in Missouri. Shortly afterward, authorities discovered that she had used a false Social Security number to secure employment and charged her with aggravated identity theft, a federal crime.
Romero subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in federal prison. While she was incarcerated, her six-month old son was taken care of by various family members.
These family members eventually sought and received help from a clergy couple who offered to help take care of the child. This couple later asked to adopt the child, but Romero refused the request.
Interestingly, the clergy couple later introduced the child to Seth and Melinda Moser, and later put him up for adoption.
Seth and Melinda Moser eventually sought and secured temporary custody of the child, a move that went unopposed by Romero.
A year after being granted temporary custody, the Mosers sought to adopt the child.
The adoption was ultimately approved in October 2008 with the judge declaring that Romero had effectively abandoned her son by virtue of her lengthy lack of communication.
To be continued …
To learn more about adoption or parental rights, contact an experienced and skilled legal professional.
This post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.
Stay tuned for more from our Ft. Worth family law blog …
Related Resources:
Missouri court rules immigrant’s adoption rights terminated illegally (CNN)
Disputed Adoption Gets New Hearing (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
