PRELUDE: BLOGGER BLITZ FOR EVELYN AND STEPHANIE BENNETT
Some of you may have read about “Baby Evelyn.” Many of you probably haven’t. MSM, except for the Akron Beacon Journal* has been curiously quiet about the adoption story that has the potential to become the next DeBoers case; the next Baby Richard case. The story of Evelyn Bennett is saddening and maddening. It is bad. But it’s badder for me personally because it’s happening in my home town, Canton, Ohio. You’ll be hearing more about the case in the next day or so, but in the meantime, here’s the nutshell: When Evelyn Bennett was 5 months old, her mother Stephanie Bennett signed adoption surrender documents during the second meeting with a representative of the Akron-based A Child’s Waiting counselor at Glen Oak High School where she was a student. Stephanie, 17 at the time, says she was advised by the adoption agency representative to run away from home and sign documents in another county because it would be easier to sign the paperwork out of sight of her parents. She received no viable counseling. Stephanie had been introduced to an agency representative the day before by David Saltsman, a guidance Ranza and Judy Bennett, who were providing care for Continue Reading →