The child's name is Emma Rose. She is seven and is living in foster care, not because she lacks a loving family but because her loving, prospective adoptive parents, who were granted custody of her last summer, are gay. Despite the fact that Dr. Alicia Gregory, a doctor hired by DFCS to conduct an independent evaluation, concluded that "Emma's current foster care placement was the worst possible scenario for Emma," the child remains in foster care and her prospective adoptive mother and her lawyer have been sentenced to jail. Keep reading.
The Southern Voice is reporting that when Wilkinson County Superior Court Judge John Lee Parrott discovered that the petitioner in an adoption that he was about to grant was a lesbian, Elizabeth Hadaway, living in a "homosexual relationship," he halted the proceedings to do research to "determine if Georgia law allowed adoptions by gay parents." He learned about the petitioner's sexual orientation when reviewing the DFCS home evaluation. Hadaway had made no attempt to hide her sexual orientation or that she was living with a partner. DFCS had no problem with this, but Parrott did and ordered the child returned to the birth mother (who was also gay). The birth mother refused, insisting that she wanted the petitioner, Elizabeth Hadaway, to adopt seven year old Emma Rose.
Then, Elizabeth Hadaway moved to Bibb County and applied for adoption there, but learning of this, Judge Parrott issued two more rulings, one placing the child in the custody of DFCS, and the other accusing the child's legal custodian and prospective adoptive mother, Elizabeth Hadway and her attorney, Dana Johnson, of "attempting to 'subterfuge and sham' the court.
Parrott found Johnson and her client in criminal contempt and ordered them to jail, giving them the option of serving ten days or serving five days and paying a $500.00 fine. He ordered that they were to begin serving their sentence on Good Friday. Nice touch, don't you think? Hadaway and Johnson have appealed Judge Parrott's ruling.
Was she sentenced to jailed for being gay, and her attorney for representing a gay women seeking to adopt a child? Well, no, not exactly, but it doesn't matter much. Technically, what they were accused of was going around Judge Parrott's order, but there is no question that the issue of gay adoption and the judge's own opinions on that are at the heart of this matter. Had Hadaway been straight, there is every indication that the adoption would have been routine. In fact, in Bibb County, our new Superior Court Judge Tripp Self heard the new petition and upon reviewing Dr. Gregory's evaluation ordered that custody be restored to Hadaway, but the child remains in foster care in Wilkinson County.
I suspect that this story will grow legs and walk, and I fear that right wing activists will use it as an excuse to push forward a ban on gay adoption in Georgia. There is no doubt that it will shine a bright light on institutionalized discrimination toward gays, and the person who is suffering the most? Emma Rose.
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Hi, I am the lesbian mother of three well ajusted adult children who were raised in a lesbian home from the day of their birth after concieved by artificial insemination. I am both appalled and disgusted by Judge John Lee Parrott's decision to remove Emma Rose and inprison the woman who has taken care of her and loved her unconditionally since she arrived in her care. My heart goes out to both of them.
I would just like to say my children are all contributers to society. One, my son, is a dairy farmer with a wife and lovely 2-year-old son,my daughter is a chef in charge of a kitchen in a well-known hotel while my 19-year-old son is training to be an embalmer.
All of my children are hetrosexual and suffer no ill-effects from being raised in a lesbian home.
On Mother's Day all 3 children rang to say they loved us both dearly. What more could a mother ask for? _ Loving well-ajusted adults who love their family and work adding to society.
This judge needs to be educated. If I could afford it I would personally come over there and speak with him and allow my children to show him just how wonderfully they have grown into productive adults who care for other people.
they are not mentally or emotionally scarred by their wonderful upbringing where they learned to tolerate all people they come across in life.
If anyone would like to contact me they can do so by emailing cherietaylor@xtra.co.nz
I am a very proud mother
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