Utah Supreme Court delays return of Baby Teleah to her father

Teleah with her daddy, Terry Achane

The Utah Supreme Court yesterday put a temporary hold on a trial judge's orders to return a little girl to her soldier father, Terry Achane, after she was given up for adoption without his consent two years ago. The little girl is being held by Jared and Kristi Frei, a couple who proceeded with their plan to adopt her, fully aware that her girl's father, married to her mother, had not given his consent. 

Does this sound like legalized kidnapping to you? Sure does to us. Involved in this chicanery is a corrupt adoption agency (Adoption Center of Choice), a supposedly law-abiding and god-fearing couple (the Freis) and the Utah Supreme Court. The fight is not over yet by any
means. Achane has good lawyers and much support, but the fact that the Utah Supreme Court responded favorably to the illicit transfer of this child--and ordered a delay in her return--makes me decry the mind set of the people who run the damn state of Utah and underlying ethos of the church that is so influential there, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), or Mormons. If that were not so, we would not be reading about so many cases of children separated from their natural fathers in the state of Utah. From Jane's experience as a lawyer working in securities regulation, she found that Utah officials are often reluctant to enforce laws when the offenders are members of the LDS Church, the same church as many, if not most, of the state regulators in Utah.

ADOPTION APARTHEID IN UTAH
On its website, the center claims to have facilitated about 1,400 successful adoptions since its founding in 1995. According to its corporate registration filing, it has done business under eight other names in the past, including A Heart of Gold Adoptions, An All American Adoption Agency, A Bridge Adoption Services and A Adoption with Love (about which we have written numerous times). These unscrupulous practices are allowed to flourish in Utah because the Mormon religion, which is so big in Utah, promotes the quick transfer of children away from their natural parents unless they suit the standards of the Church: Married, and it probably helps if you are White, given that it was only in 1978 did the the Church begin allowing black men of African descent to be full members. In regards to adoption, Utah is similar to South Africa before the end of apartheid: stuck in another era. Surely there must be social workers who are not such scum as the people who run the agencies listed above, but they do not have the power or influence to change the adoption apartheid prevalent in Utah. 

 The picture says it all;
they call her "Leah"

 

Drill sergeant Terry Achane was waiting in Dallas airport to board a flight to Utah when he was told that a hearing scheduled for yesterday, that would have likely reunited him with baby Teleah, was cancelled.

"'He's extremely disappointed,' his attorney, Mark Wiser, told MailOnline. 'He's waited almost two years to gain custody of his daughter. Everyday without her is heart-wrenching.'"  

As we reported her earlier, Achane won the long legal battle in November to gain custody of his toddler, who his wife placed with the Freis without telling him. In a 48-page ruling, Judge Darold McDade ordered the girl's adoptive parents to return her to him within the next 60 days. The turnover of the girl was supposed to happen yesterday (the 16th), and we waited for news it had happened. Instead we learned that the usual tactics of keeping a child from her legal, biological parents had occurred: in response to an appeal from Freis, a temporary stay was granted. This is a usual stall tactic for delaying the return of a child to his or her natural parents, and then the adopters can claim too much time has gone by to take the child "from the only parents she has known." In his ruling, McDade condemned the agency for refusing to disclose any information to him nearly two years ago when he learned that his child had been given away without his consent, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Lorraine

The unscrupulous people who run the Adoption Center of Choice agency that organized the phony adoption had been under the scrutiny of state licensing officials for three months, and operating under a corrective action plan since September when its license was extended, but not renewed. The extension was due to expire at the end of December, but the case of baby Teleah (her father's name for her) has raised new questions and prompted additional review. A couple, Wes and Becky Jones, are suing the same agency for the return of fees for adoptions that did not occur, as the supposed birth mother was not even pregnant. A Florida couple is also suing the same agency for negligently misrepresenting their fees and operating a "Ponzi scheme," shifting funds between prospective adoptive couples. 

WHAT DO THEY SAY TO GOD?
Baby snatcher/prospective adopter Jared Frei, incidentally, is an attorney. Whom do I dislike more? The people who run Utah adoption agencies or adoptive father/attorneys who think this kind of behavior is moral?  Hard for me to decide. I have done battle with lots of adoptive father-attorneys over the years and they generally are mean and nasty. They raise their voices and talk about contracts, how much money they paid for their child, and demand: what gives me the right to say anything?! They sound as if they are rehearsing for a guest shot on Law and Order. 

One wonders what the Freis say to their God when they go to church. We must have this baby because we are better people than her biological father? Because we are more deserving than her natural father? Because we have more money? Please let people donate more to our plea for funds so that we can continue this fight to keep a child from her real father? Because a baby has to have a married mother and father? Because we are holier than? Because we deserve to have a black baby to make the other black baby we adopted have someone of his own color in the house?

I can only imagine that somehow they justify their immoral acts. I find them sick, this story twisted, the stay of the Utah Supreme Court unconscionable.--lorraine
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SOURCES

Utah adoption agency accused of leaving trail of broken dreams, emptied wallets  

Soldier's agony as court puts temporary block on return of daughter, 2, who his wife gave up for adoption without telling him

Married man's adoption horror continues as adoptive family of child his wife gave up are fighting his court win to have daughter returned

The Freis blog where they ask for donations to fight Archane: http://frei-adoption.com/Frei/Leah.html 
For a news video about the case, see below. 

From FMF
Utah: Sewer Pit of the Adoption Industry
Utah judge voids adoption, orders girl returned to her father
Adoption in Utah: No place for birth fathers
Utah agency places cast-off international adoptees

Reading
Fifty Years In 13 Days: A Mother/Daughter Reunion 
(See above)
In May 2007, Jackie found Katie, a daughter she had surrendered for adoption in 1957. Over the course of 13 days, Katie and Jackie communicated solely via email before meeting in person. Their messages tell the story of the intervening 50 years and how each prepared for their first face-to-face meeting.
"This is a feel good story of a Mother daughter meeting, 50 years after the daughter was put up for adoption, and how at this stage in their lives they were both very open to exploring the possibilities of a lasting relationship. Much of it is recounted through their e-mails to each other."--Amazon reviewer

Baby Richard: A Four-Year-Old Comes Home
"This landmark case for adoption and for fathers’ rights was debated across the country and in Europe, Canada, and Australia. Baby Richard raged through the courts at every level and led to new laws in thirty states. With her clients’ permission, Dr. Karen Moriarty--who donated her services to the child and his family--reveals this rare, behind-the-scenes view of the real people and their passions, struggles, defeats, and victories. Her book provides the exclusive update on all of the major players in the bitter conflict and on the child himself, his parents and sisters, including photographs." --Amazon