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DAD WHO OPPOSED ADOPTION
TRIES TO VISIT ADOPTIVE PARENTS... AND HIS CHILD
John Wyatt always wanted his child--but can't even get a visit.
By Jesse Fruhwirth
Salt Lake City Weekly
September 9, 2010
John Wyatt flew to Utah to appear before the Utah Supreme Court Thursday in hopes of dissolving the adoption of his child to a Utah family, which he always opposed.
Wyatt, 22, of Dumphries, Virg., was featured in City Weekly's July cover story, “Some Call It Kidnapping.” He and several unmarried fathers from across the country are angry at Utah adoption laws they say unfairly cut them off from raising their own children. Several adoption experts in Utah and elsewhere say that Utah's laws most readily eliminate an unmarried father's rights to his child.
At issue in his Supreme Court hearing are conflicting rulings from Utah and Virginia courts. Virginia has issued a final ruling that Wyatt should have custody of baby Emma; Utah courts, thus far, have found in favor of the adoptive family. “What we're shooting for is [for the Supreme Court to rule] that Utah doesn't have jurisdiction … and any future proceedings should happen in Virginia,” Wyatt's attorney Joshua Peterman said after the hearing.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
TO VIEW THE TV INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
VA. FATHER FIGHTS FOR BABY EMMA
IN UTAH COURT
TBD.COM
September 9, 2010
A Virginia father traveled across the country to fight for the daughter he's never met.
John Wyatt headed to court Thursday stopping only to show reporters the cell phone photo of his daughter Emma. The Dumfries man has only seen photos of his daughter. She was adopted last year by a couple in Utah when Wyatt's girlfriend signed papers without John's permission.
Thursday, Wyatt's attorney argued before the state supreme court that Emma belongs back in Virginia, which granted Wyatt custody.
"I live in Virginia, halfway across the country, and they want me to comply with their laws when my state already said that I did everything to protect my rights," said Wyatt.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
TO VIEW THE TV INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
UTAH SUPREME COURT HEARS
FIGHT OVER 'BABY EMMA'
By Aaron Falk
The Desert News
September 9, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY — For more than a year, John Wyatt has fought for his daughter — for the right to see her, for the right to hold her. He hasn't had the chance to do either.
"Baby Emma" was born in Virginia in February 2009 and adopted by a Utah couple a short time later. Since then, Wyatt has waged an uphill battle for custody in a state he says makes it too easy to strip fathers of their rights.
"It's heartbreaking," he said Thursday outside the Utah Supreme Court chambers. "It's caused so much pain and stress. I think about her all the time. I will never give up on her. She is my heart. You can't live without your heart."
Before Utah's high court Thursday, attorneys for both Wyatt and Emma's adoptive parents laid out the legal arguments in the case.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS
IN 'BABY EMMA' CASE
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
September 9, 2010
A decision on who will raise “Baby Emma” may hinge on whether her father acted quickly enough to protect his rights in his home state, what deference Utah gives other state’s courts, and interpretation of a federal kidnapping law.
The Utah Supreme Court focused on those issues Thursday as it heard arguments in John Wyatt’s bid to gain custody of his daughter, born Feb. 10, 2009, in Virginia and placed with a Utah couple days later through A Act of Love adoption agency.
Wyatt has said he opposed the adoption from the start and hoped to raised the child, either alone or with his then girlfriend Emily Colleen Fahland. But Larry Jenkins, the agency’s attorney, said Wyatt acted too late in both Virginia and Utah to protect any legal claim to the child.
Joshua Peterman, Wyatt’s attorney, said a time-stamped receipt shows Wyatt filed visitation and custody petitions on Feb. 18 — five days before Thomas and Chandra Zarembinski, the adoptive parents, initiated an adoption proceeding in Utah.
Peterman characterized the case as a custody dispute that falls under provisions of the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act. He said Wyatt did everything required to protect his parental rights under Virginia law, as noted by the judge there who granted Wyatt custody of Emma.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
EDITORIAL: ADOPTION DECISIONS TAKE WAY TOO LONG IN UTAH COURTS
By Matt Gephardt
ABC4.com
September 8, 2010
The case of Baby Emma/Baby Gabrielle has Utah's adoption laws under national scrutiny.
Taking Action 4 You, we spent the day investigating; What makes Utah's adoption laws different?
Baby Emma or Gabrielle, depending on which parent you ask, is currently caught in an interstate tug-of-war. Her adoptive parents in Utah and her biological father from Virginia both are claiming the one and a half year old belongs with them.
And while this case is unusual, pitting state against state and judge against judge, it's not unheard of. Especially in Utah.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
THE FIGHT FOR BABY EMMA
By Marcos Ortiz
ABC4.com
September 8, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – A Virginia dad is in Utah hoping the legal system will allow him to bring his daughter back home.
Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court will be asked to decide whether Baby Emma was legally adopted by a Salt Lake City couple or if she was kidnapped.
“She was born on February 10th 2009," said John Wyatt. "(She was) eight pounds, six point eight ounces 21 inches long."
But Wyatt has never held Baby Emma in his arms. She was given up for adoption by her birth mother without his consent.
“It angers me that someone who knows what it's like to not have a child would do that to someone else who has a child and wants a child and have complete disregard for me knowing I wanted my child the whole time,” he said.
A Virginia judge gave Wyatt custody of Baby Emma, but a Utah judge gave the adoptive parents custody.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
UTAH SUPREME COURT TO HEAR DAD'S BID FOR HIS BABY
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
September 8, 2010
John Wyatt says this is the thought that keeps him going: One day, he will be with his daughter.
Wyatt knows the daughter he calls Emma, now 18 months old, only through photographs. Since her birth in a Virginia hospital, he has waged a battle in two states to assert his right to have custody of Emma.
The next round will take place Thursday before the Utah Supreme Court, where attorneys will argue adoption law, jurisdiction and, perhaps, whether a child is better off being raised by two parents than a single father.
Wyatt claims Utah’s laws are unfairly aligned against unmarried biological fathers and that a Utah judge ignored legal decisions made in his home state and the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act.
“I have the law on my side,” said Wyatt, 22. “These people are blatantly breaking the law. They are just trying to wait us out, hope that we’ll run out of money or give up.”
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SOME CALL IT KIDNAPPING
HOW UTAH ADOPTION LAWS TAKE BABIES FROM THE NATION'S UNMARRIED FATHERS
By Jesse Fruhwirth
Salt Lake City Weekly
July 28, 2010
Like Thurnwald, Wyatt believed that he and girlfriend, Colleen Fahland, would raise baby Emma together. He went to doctor appointments and spoke to the baby soothingly inside Fahland’s belly, with the belief that childhood connection to a father’s voice can begin before birth. Wyatt and Fahland, who have known each other since second grade and dated for about three years prior to the pregnancy, are still romantically involved, he says. While Fahland has declined all interviews with the news media, her attorney and Wyatt say she regrets her role in the adoption.
On the day of the Emma’s birth, Wyatt and his mother arrived at the hospital for the delivery, but the hospital would not let them in. So-called “silent patient” privacy policies allow patients to have no information released about them.
Wyatt knows what happened next only secondhand from Fahland and from court testimony. He says she was isolated in a hotel room and pressed by representatives of the adoption agency and her own mother to sign the relinquishment papers. “To me, it sounds like they took advantage of her,” Wyatt says.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
ADOPTION COUNCIL PREZ-ELECT CONCERNED ABOUT UTAH LAWS
By Jesse Fruhwirth
Salt Lake City Weekly
August 3, 2010
The Utah Adoption Council meets today for an annual retreat. I'm told by the president-elect Wes Hutchins that several issues related to unmarried fathers and their rights to their children that I exposed in this week's cover story will be discussed.
"This is item number 1 on my agenda," Wes Hutchins told me on the phone yesterday, referring to, "Some Call It Kidnapping: How Utah adoption laws take babies from the nation's unmarried fathers." The Utah Adoption Council is a non-profit advisory committee that sponsors most of the almost-annual revisions to Utah's adoption laws.
But it's not just Utah laws that Hutchins is excited to discuss with the rest of the council: he also wants to discuss Larry Jenkins, the lawyer/lobbyist who many of the men in my article blame more than anyone else for their predicaments. Not only is Jenkins the frequent legal representative for birth mothers and adoption agencies in these cases, but he's the legislative representative for the Utah Adoption Council and a registered lobbyist for two Utah adoption agencies.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
BABY BATTLES
KRCL RADIO ACTIVE!
90.9FM
July 29, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (krcl) - Do Utah adoption laws discriminate against unmarried fathers? The City Weekly's Jesse Fruhwirth joins us to discuss his feature story, Some Call It Kidnapping. We're also joined by two fathers featured in the article, John Wyatt and Cody O'Dea who both lost custody of their children in Utah courts.
TO HEAR JOHN WYATT'S RADIO INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE
**Please Note: Commericals run before the interview begins. (1:30)
