Utah appeals court loads the deck in favor of brokers

From Daily Herald, Salt Lake City, UT:, January 01, 2005

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY --

A state appeals court has ruled that an interstate agreement meant to protect children taken across state lines for adoption doesn't apply to the unborn.

The court, in a ruling handed down Thursday, held that the law doesn't apply to unborn children of expectant mothers who travel to Utah to deliver and surrender their babies.

Each year, more than 100 expectant mothers from other states travel to Utah to deliver their babies and surrender them to adoption agencies.

Before a child can be placed across state lines, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children requires an adoption agency to notify the receiving state of the child's name, date of birth and birth place.

The requirements allow authorities to evaluate the child and make sure that the placement is in his or her best interest.

But judges ruled that the compact doesn't apply to unborn children.

Note 'Adoption Center of Choice', one of the three agencies which sued the state to exempt pregnant women from the interstate compact, is the defendant in at least three of the cases mentioned in the lead article in this blog - birthfathers Buddy Pruitt, Frank Osborne and Victor Johnson.

This ruling by the Utah appeals court handed unscrupulous Utah adoption brokers license to literally thumb their noses at the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children by importing pregnant women, rather than already-born babies, into their state.

Next: LDS Family Services Unethical Practices