Help Put Utah's Adoption Mills Out of Business

I started this morning by sending an email to Washington's senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. It went something like this:

Dear Senator:

Please sponsor a federal bill that will guarantee that biological fathers -- whether they are married or not -- have the same parental rights as birth mothers in adoptions.

I have read in the Salt Lake Tribune about several controversial adoptions that took place in Utah. Five of these cases involved unwed fathers and an adoption agency called the Adoption Center of Choice. In all five cases, Utah's Supreme Court and Utah's Court of Appeals refused to stop the adoption because the unwed father had waited too long to protect his parental rights under Utah law. Victor Johnson, Frank Osborne, Buddy Pruitt, Cody O’Dea and Bryn Ayers lost their biological children to Utah adoption.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that the LDS Church teaches that it is better for children to be raised by married parents than by single parents. I know the LDS Church also teaches that it is best for children to sealed in the temple to LDS couples. Many of Utah's judges belong to the LDS Church. I believe that their rulings have been influenced by the LDS Church's teachings.

It is my understanding that an attorney named Larry Jenkins helped write Utah's adoption laws. This was unfair to unwed fathers because Larry Jenkins represented the Adoption Center of Hope in the five aforementioned cases. Mr. Jenkins is currently representing Jared and Kristi Frei in their dispute with Terry Achane.

Many females temporarily move to Utah to give birth and place their babies up for adoption because the Utah courts rarely support fathers' rights. Sometimes a father does not know his child has been placed for adoption until the deadline that protects his parental rights has passed. I believe that this happened to several of the unwed fathers who lost their children to Utah adoption.

Please help put Utah's adoption mills out of business. Sponsor a federal bill that will make it against federal law for a female to deprive a father of his parental rights by moving to another state to give birth or place a baby up for adoption. Make it a federal crime for an adoption agency to assist a birth mother in depriving a father of his parental rights this way too. The state in which the biological father and birth mother normally reside should have jurisdiction over a child's adoption.

Please sponsor a federal bill that will extend the length of time a father has to protect his parental rights in adoption cases. I recommend extending the deadline to six months.

I am especially concerned about Staff Sergeant Terry Achane. Mr. Achane is an Afro-American soldier. He was married when his wife became pregnant with their child. They lived in Texas. He was transferred by the Department of the Army to Fort Jackson during his wife's pregnancy. His wife chose to remain in Texas.

His wife temporarily moved to Utah, gave birth to their child and placed their daughter up for adoption. She falsely claimed that her husband had abandoned her. The Adoption Center of Choice placed Mr. Achane's daughter with Jared and Kristi Frei, a white married couple who belong to the LDS Church. When Mr. Achane learned what his wife had done, he contacted the Adoption Center of Choice and told them he wanted his daughter back. The Freis refused to give his daughter to him. The Adoption Center of Choice permitted the adoption to take place.

My husband retired from the US Army after 21 years of service. We don't believe that our soldiers should have to worry about whether their children will be placed for adoption in Utah when they are being transferred or sent overseas. The adoption of Mr. Achane's child is currently being appealed in Utah. Please speak up for Mr. Achane. Protect our soldiers' parental rights.

Thank you for your support.

Families are like Individuals

The foregoing is a comment I posted at the Salt Lake Tribune site. I wrote it with the hope that Utah's judicial system will broaden the rights of unmarried fathers in adoption cases. I don't think it is right to deprive a man of the right to raise his child simply because he is not married. I wish the best of luck to Ramsey Shaud in his fight to gain custody of his little daughter.


There are many types of families in the United States today. I hope Utah's judges are smart enough to realize that one type of family is not necessarily better than the others.

There is the traditional family in which a heterosexual father and a heterosexual mother are married to each other.

But there are also single parents, divorced parents, and widowed parents raising children. There are also heterosexual couples who live together (but aren't married) having babies. There are blended families in which stepparents are raising children.

There are also grandparents raising their grandchildren. Sometimes aunts and uncles raise their nieces and nephews.

Foster parents and adoptive parents raise children too.

There are lesbian couples raising children together. (I've read that the statistics show that lesbian couples are good parents.) There are also gay men who are fathers.

You aren't going to like this, but there are polygamous families too.

There really isn't a "right" way to be a parent any more. Families are like individuals -- everybody is different.

One type of family isn't necessarily better than the others. It doesn't matter if the parents are married or not. What matters is that the parents love and care for their children. What matters is that the children aren't being abused or neglected.