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Adoption of boy by gay relative is challenged by DCF
Hollywood woman adopted infant who had been taken into foster care shortly
after birth
By Carol Marbin Miller, The Miami Herald
8:21 PM EST, February 17, 2010
State child-welfare administrators have appealed the adoption of an infant
foster child by a gay Hollywood woman — the second challenge to Florida's
gay-adoption law currently under review.
Joe Follick, a spokesman for the
Department of Children & Families, said his agency appealed the decision
last month by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia to approve Vanessa
Alenier's adoption of a relative taken into foster care shortly after his
birth.
"Until there is a unified appellate court decision on this issue,
we are bound by Florida statute to defend and adhere to the law," Follick
said.
An earlier adoption by a gay father from North Miami is pending
before the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami. A decision in that case is
expected soon.
Alenier's attorney, Alan Mishael, who has handled two of
the state's three successful adoptions by gay people, blasted the state for
fighting the adoption.
"Instead of leaving this family alone, DCF wants
to break it up and is spending taxpayer dollars trying to do so," Mishael said.
"DCF complained that Vanessa was gay but offered no evidence at trial for why
the child's adoption by Vanessa as his family member was not in his best
interest."
The little boy who is the subject of Sampedro-Iglesia's order
was born Jan. 14, 2009, and was sheltered by DCF investigators almost
immediately. Alenier's extended family suggested that she take custody of the
boy, and she agreed. A half-year later, Alenier asked the judge to approve the
baby's adoption.
Alenier said she had been heartened to learn that DCF
had stopped fighting the efforts of another gay adoptive parent, Wayne LaRue
Smith of Key West, who was seeking subsidies from the state to pay for college
tuition, health insurance and other benefits. Earlier this month, DCF agreed to
provide Smith's adopted son with state subsidies.
"I was hoping that this
was a signal that [DCF] Secretary George Sheldon might do the right thing in our
case, but I can now see that I was mistaken," Alenier said.
"All Melanie
and I can hope is that what we are being put through to protect this little
boy's right to an adoptive family of his own may help clear the way for others,"
she added, referring to Melanie Leon, her partner.