Now the state has spent lots of money and deprived a child of a true, lasting family from its birth. A waste of time and money in the legal system. So many children are overlooked or abused and their resources could have been better spent.

It’s so sad to hear that these children are going through this. I hope that Lopez is done having babies. Hopefully all the kids will be placed into better custody!

It is easy to read these articles posted and be angry with Misty Lopez. She is a young, unwed mother who finds herself in a vicious cycle of substance abuse and pregnancy and unlike other women in her situation, she fails to change her ways. This is evident from her statement made after the court hearing, “They’re trying to say I’m not a suitable mother, but first of all, I did not want the baby and I’m not asking to be investigated so that the baby can come home with me. I don’t want that.”

The county claims Misty Lopez is a bad mother based on 10 cases of reported child neglect, general neglect or child abuse. Although no evidence has been found to substantiate these allegations against Misty Lopez, I think it is clear that Misty will not be winning an award for Mother of the year. With this said, I think the courts do have to take into consideration the statement made by Michelle Erich, the adoption attorney, “This mother did not delay in acting to find a good home for her child.” So, although many may not be a fan of Misty Lopez, the question to investigate further is whether or not she had the best interest of her child in mind, when choosing the Jacobellises to adopt her child.

Neither article posted explains to the full extent why Child Protective Services became involved in this case. I don’t think it is our place to knock this agency and their reasoning for getting involved. I do think it is unfortunate that the child was placed in a home and now has been removed and placed in a foster home, but on the flip side, I would like to believe this agency would not have done this unless it was absolutely necessary.

I feel for the Jacobellises, and the situation they are facing. Again one would like to believe they are a suitable family to adopt a child, but the track record attached to Misty Lopez, may make it difficult for a court to determine, her decision to place her child in the Jacobellises care, is a suitable one and in the best interest of the child. The fact that the Jacobellises have adopted prior to this occasion may benefit them in the final outcome of this case.

This case brings rise to many issues. For women out there who are unable to have their own children, this case is frustrating because Misty Lopez continues to have “unwanted” children. For couples who are trying to adopt, they see a case like this and become discouraged with the system in place. For others they realize, adoption and child services is a pertinent area of the law, where there is not enough assistance to make it work efficiently. The bottom line, this newborn child and other children like her, are the ones who suffer from the inefficiencies and errors of our ways.

As stated in the article by Doug Donnelly, the past president of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers, “The purpose of the dependency system is to protect a child who needs protecting, not to punish a mother who had made an adoption plan and yet still has a drug problem.” We can only hope that this is the case when it comes time to make a ruling and, however the court may rule it is in the best interest of the child.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/oct/18/custody-of-local-baby-in-dispute/

Apparently the would-be adoptive family already has a three year old adopted son. Also according to this article the adoption paperwork was already complete at the time the county filed a dependency/neglect action and took the baby out of the hospital.

In response to Mary’s post in regard to my post – I was not saying that it is hard to adopt if a person voluntarily gives up their rights. This is obvious. I was more implying that it is difficult for a county or any other person who is trying to do it, to terminate a parent’s rights involuntarily. Misty was voluntarily giving up her rights so that her child could be adopted…not giving up her rights so that the child could be put into foster care. Regardless, yes, she is giving up her legal right to that child. I was looking at it from the perspective that if the state stepped in to terminate Misty’s rights, instead of her voluntarily giving up her rights to the adoptive family, it would not be voluntary on her part, versus her doing it on her terms.

In the article it states, “However, after the county Child Protective Services became involved and Lopez failed a toxicology screening, the girl was placed with foster parents and became the subject of a Juvenile Dependency Case with the County Human Services Agency refusing to recognize the independent adoption or any claim to the child by the Jacobellises”.

Did Misty fail a toxicology screening when she had the baby? Was it determined that she wasn’t of right mind to give up her baby? No matter what the reason, Social Services doesn’t just get involved in a case because it wants to. They are busy enough receiving reports of abuse and neglect that they aren’t just looking to keep children from good adoptive families. Something here is being left out.

It seems that Social Services got involved because of a failed toxicology screening, it doesn’t say when that screening was done. It also doesn’t say what toxins were in Misty’s system. If it was something that she was doing while she was pregnant and the baby tested positive for it as well, does Misty deserve to get off and just give her baby up with no consequences of possibly harming her child with the drugs she has been taking?

I am all for legal adoptions. I am not, however, for people who abuse their unborn children and get away with it. I think it is great that there were wonderful people to adopt this little girl, but I also think that Misty needs to be held accountable for possibly exposing her baby to illegal toxins as well.

Someone stated in a response, “I do not believe the county has any where near enough evidence to state that Ms. Lopez is too unfit to have an independent adoption occur”. Well what is considered enough evidence? How many toxins have to be found in a pregnant woman’s body for it to be enough? If mom had toxins in her system at delivery then the county absolutely has enough evidence for at least an investigation of the mother and whether or not she was of right mind to authorize an adoption. The question is not only was she legally sound to offer the baby, but is she criminally liable for any harm she caused her baby?

Misty states, “They’re trying to say I’m not a suitable mother, but first of all, I did not want the baby and I’m not asking to be investigated so that the baby can come home with me. I don’t want that. I did this adoption plan so she could go with parents who love her and have the life a kid deserves.”

Of course she isn’t asking to be investigated…she doesn’t want to be criminally charged. The last time I checked a mother who does drugs while pregnant isn’t suitable…hey but maybe that is just me. Maybe I am wrong…maybe she was just a pregnant girl for the 8th time. Ok..once is a mistake…but 8 times? Seriously the girl has got to get a clue about birth control at some point.

Someone stated in their response, “Though private/independent adoptions happen all the time, the court takes actions of terminating one’s status as a parent very seriously and in actuality it is a very difficult process to terminate the legal rights of a parent.”

If a parent voluntarily gives up their parental rights, as in this situation, it is not very difficult to process an adoption at all. It is just a matter of paperwork and time. The parent that gives consent to adopt their child typically gets a grace period with the court to change their mind about adoption. Once that time frame has passed, they have as much right to the child they gave up for adoption as any stranger off the street. The only time adoptions are difficult is if the biological parent opposes the adoption and doesn’t want to give up their child. Terminating parental rights is a very long process, however in this case the Court wasn’t trying to terminate the mother’s rights. She was trying to terminate her own parental rights. There is a huge difference.

Maybe if Ms. Lopez quit doing drugs long enough to realize what birth control was and then used it she wouldn’t keep getting pregnant and giving all her kids away. Then this problem wouldn’t exist in the first place. Oh but she is probably just innocently trying to give her child a good family to live with…please…