
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994                   TAG: 9410050005
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AN ADOPTION LAW THAT PROTECTS KIDS

HEARTRENDING, high-profile adoption feuds such as the Baby Jessica case have spurred a group of lawyers and judges to write a model adoption law that should give birth parents reasonable opportunity to reclaim their baby, then sever the link with finality.

At the same time, it would provide needed protection for the child and adoptive parents.

The proposed model would give birth mothers eight days to change their minds after giving up their babies, and fathers 30 days after the proposed adoption to make a parental claim. The time-frame may be subject to tinkering, but the concept should be accepted by every state. There must be a cut-off time for challenging an adoption, and it must be final, if adoption is to remain a fair alternative for children whose mothers choose to relinquish them and whose fathers either agree or are not on the scene.

A child's best chance to flourish in such situations is to be placed in a stable family that wants, and is committed and able, to care for a baby. And that family must be able to accept the new member fully, without fear that he or she will be ripped away because of a biological parent's belated change of heart. How can adoptive parents make this deep emotional investment without assurance that the bond will be safeguarded by the rules of society?

The model legislation also would forbid denying adoptions on the basis of the race or ethnicity of children or prospective parents. This, too, would be a commendable step forward for the rights of children.

Some black social workers have objected to white adoptions of black children, saying those raised in mixed-race families are denied the opportunity to be brought up in their own culture and to learn from people of their own race how to cope in a racist society. The result has been black children spending years in the foster-care system who could have been adopted by a family of another race.

Having loving parents of any race surely prepares a child for facing life's difficulties better than bouncing around in foster care.

After review by the American Bar Association, the model Uniform Adoption Act will be sent to every state for consideration. Its purpose is twofold: ending the hodgepodge of state laws that complicate and confound adoptions and add to their cost, and putting the welfare of adopted children above the rights of fickle biological parents. Both goals, though sure to be controversial, are worthy.

by CNB