
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                    TAG: 9406230426 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B3    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940623                                 LENGTH: PORTSMOUTH

PORTSMOUTH WOMAN SAYS FILES ON LAWSUIT STOLEN FROM HOME

{LEAD} A woman who has filed a lawsuit against the city's Department of Social Services over a contested adoption has reported a burglary of documents from her home that she says are related to the case.

Carol Wiepert of the first block of Davis St. in the Cradock section told police her home was broken into on June 11 while she was out doing errands with a friend. Wiepert said the thieves took about 40 pages of documents and 26 computer discs.

{REST} Other items of value, Wiepert said, could have been taken, but were not touched.

The stolen items, Wiepert said, were related to research she had done in connection with the lawsuit she and her husband, David, filed in March 1993.

``Whether they did it to stall me, or for some other reason, I don't know,'' Wiepert said Tuesday.

The Wieperts allege in the lawsuit that their civil rights were violated by the city when they tried to adopt a child.

The suit names the Department of Social Services, its director, Bertha Wright, and five other Social Services employees. It also names nine other people who work for the city or the state.

The lawsuit claims that a social worker falsified documents and disclosed Carol Wiepert's psychiatric records without her consent.

The suit also maintains that Social Services employees deliberately misrepresented facts in a study of the Wiepert home - a document required for adoption.

In December 1990 the Wieperts arranged a private adoption with a friend who was pregnant but could not afford to support a child.

Problems surfaced when Social Services workers questioned Carol Wiepert's mental health and her past. She admitted being a victim of child sexual abuse and being a patient in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks in 1987.

In a December 1992 hearing, a psychiatrist and an attorney appointed to represent the child testified that Carol Wiepert showed no signs of mental problems. They said she would make a good mother.

The Wieperts are seeking $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages, and are asking that their adoption of 3-year-old Rachel be made final.

The Wieperts have custody of the child, but have yet to complete the adoption process.

{KEYWORDS} ROBBERIES ADOPTIONS

by CNB