Just a day or so ago the story of Baby Kalyee hit the AdoptionLand newstands. You’ve probably heard already, but if not here’s a couple news stories on the case.
and
Utah dad says baby taken from him for adoption against his will
I’ve heard a couple slightly different stories of what went down, so I’ll leave out the details for now. Here’s the barebones.
Kaylee was born on November 4.The father, 20-year old Colby Nielson,attempted to follow Utah’s regressive adoption and putative father laws. Apparently he filed a paternity claim, and his name is on the birth certificate, On November 18, he was handed a court order demanding immediate turnover of Kaylee to her “adoptive parents”–reportedly friends of the birth grandparents who seem to be more interested in wiping the record clean of an “illegitimate” birth than in preserving that family. The unnamed birthmother, reportedly, has been coerced to agree to relinquishment by her parents on moral and religious grounds. Remember, this is Utah.
That paps are fighting for a baby they have no right to, boggles my mind. Of course this is nothing new, but this time around there is no equivocation, no delay. Kaylee has been with her father since she was born.
I won’t write much about this tonight. I do, though want to urge people to donate to the Get baby Kaylee home to her Daddy go-fund-me page. Now, I usually don’t do crowd funding pleas, but this has me up in arms, and I donated a meager amount. I wish I had more. Created only on November 19, with a goal of $20.000 the Neilson family as of this writing collected an amazing. $13,640. The family has also donated funds, but this is going to be a long, hard and costly battle. Please donate. No more Baby Veronicas. No more Justin Browns.:
Why is this even an issue in 2015?
For more information on birthfather rights go to eriksmith.org. Erik, occasional guest blogger here, has written extensively on the subject of birthfather rights,putative father registries, and related issues.
