Health & Fitness
An Ugly Legal Matter: The Contested Adoption
The Capps Law Firm practices adoption law, family law and other civil litigation matters.
Many legal problems can be unpleasant and are fueled by adversarial emotions and agendas, particularly in family law.
Typically, the pleasant exception to this rule is in adoption court. Adoptions usually involve happy potential parents and children who are excited to finally be placed with a real family. However, behind these proceedings lurks an uglier legal matter—the contested adoption.
A contested adoption involves the state, a relative of the child, or a foster parent attempting to a) terminate someone's parental rights and b) adopt the child against the parent's wishes. There is a very high standard to prove that parental rights should be terminated because this is obviously, a very scary thing.
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Lately, The Capps Law Firm has found a very unsettling statute that enables people to take children away from loving and concerned parents. The Adoption Act states that there is a "rebuttable presumption that a parent is depraved if the parent has been criminally convicted of at least 3 felonies and at least one of these convictions took place within 5 years of the filing of the petition or motion seeking termination of parental rights." 750 ILCS 50/1 (D)(i)
This law threatens to interfere, and even terminate one's parental rights and unjustifiably shift the burden of proof to imperfect, but caring parents. Certain crimes can rise to the level of a felony that most would not think of as sufficient to terminate one's parental rights. For example: driving on a suspended license can be a felony under certain circumstances. While no one would argue that committing this crime is commendable, most would not say it is reprehensible enough to justify the termination of a fundamental right.
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The question is whether the legislature's purpose was to enable third parties to run to court to terminate someone's parental rights upon his third felony conviction regardless of the severity of the crime, or period, if any, of incarceration. Most would answer that this was probably not the legislature's intention. Yet, this is what the statute accomplishes. This sets a dangerous trend for constitutional rights to the custody and control of one's children. Most importantly, it seems to defy logical notions of parenting and law.
By: Kelly Cronin and Stephanie Capps
The Capps Law Firm
