Local family pushes back against bill

CELINA - A drawn-out case that pitted Brian and Kelly Anderson against Allen County Children Services finally came to a close in September after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to accept jurisdiction over the latest appeal in the adoption of 3-year-old Maddy.

Yet the Anderson family, who Brian Anderson said spent $128,000 in litigation against a county government with unlimited resources, isn't done fighting. The couple is pushing back against pending state legislation that they claim would prevent families in similar positions from adopting children.

Brian, with help from his wife, Kelly, has also penned a manuscript that they hope to have published soon, which chronicles their grueling ordeal.

"We found out there's a lot more to it than what meets the eye," Brian Anderson told Celina Rotarians this week about the couple's first foray into publishing. "But we're working on finding a publisher for our book, finding a literary agent and then going forward, just to tell our story because we very firmly feel that people need to be advocates for kids."

In a three-line notice issued by the court on Sept. 27, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor noted that after considering memoranda from attorneys representing the adoptive parents and the child's aunt, Patricia Framak, the court would not consider the appeal.

The adoption, which was finalized in December 2016, had been disputed in courts in Allen and Mercer counties and was affirmed by a ruling in the Ohio Third District Court of Appeals before the Ohio Supreme Court's first decision in October 2016.

The Andersons, foster parents who at the time had four adopted children in addition to their three biological children, had decided to foster then 14-day-old Maddy.

"Obviously, the weekend turned into weeks, turned into months and not until she was about 18 months of age did a family member finally step forward and say, 'OK, I'll take her now,' " Brian Anderson said.

During that time, a bond was created, which was evident to the birth mother, who petitioned for the adoption through the Mercer County court system. However, Maddy was later taken by Allen County Children Services, which claimed jurisdiction, and placed her with a relative in Indiana until Oct. 21, 2016, when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled a Mercer County court could grant the adoption.

Maddy had been with the Andersons for 19 months before custody was granted to the aunt by Allen County juvenile court. The child was with the aunt in Indiana for seven months.

"There were differences of opinion and the Supreme Court sorted it out," Brian Anderson said.
The Supreme Court ruling that Mercer County Probate Court had jurisdiction over the child's placement returned Maddy to the Andersons.

"We went through 18 months of hearing after hearing after hearing," Brian Anderson said. "For a year-and-a-half of our life, it was crazy and for seven months of that we never saw Maddy, and we ended up adopting her."

"Going forward we said we never want another child or family to have to go through this same thing," he continued. "We need to clearly define this in the law so it's clear and nobody has to go to court again."

Working in tandem with a local state legislator and Ohio Right to Life, Brian Anderson said draft legislation has been crafted that he says would clearly define that a birth parent has the right to choose an adoption plan for his or her child, even if that child is in children services' custody.

"Also to clearly define that foster parents should have a seat at the table because we've been told hundreds of times, 'you're just foster parents, you don't have a say,' " he said.

However, he added, "the opposition" beat the couple to the punch, introducing House Bill 283 that he asserts would prevent a family in a similar situation from adopting a child.

The bill, authored by Rep. Jeffery Rezebek, R-Clayton, would require the juvenile court judge to provide written consent to certain adoptions involving abused, neglected or dependent children.

"House Bill 283 seeks to clarify jurisdiction in cases where juvenile and probate court have dueling jurisdictions," Rezabek said in a December news release, applauding its passage through the House. "It will in no way limit adoptions or slow them down. It will simply act as the next step in stopping the practice of forum shopping. This legislation strikes the balance between the two courts as well as the children service agencies that work on these types of cases."

But Brian Anderson said he's working with Senate leadership to prevent its passage in that chamber.

"So our goal, for anyone that wants to be active politically, contact your elected leaders," he urged Rotarians. "It needs to be stopped in the Senate because we have a much better piece of legislation that's ready to go."

As the Anderson's case made its way through the legal system, family, friends and community members helped through donations, cards of support and online solidarity. The entire family was named grand marshals of the 2017 Celina Lake Festival and helped carry out its theme: "A Festival of Friends and Family."

"We didn't really understand the power of social media until we were backed in a corner and had to use it, but that's the thing that started to turn the tide in our case," Brian Anderson said.

Throughout the tribulation, Brian Anderson said he's gained much insight into the system, pointing out each of Ohio's 88 counties have children services agencies that operate in their own fashion, even though they're technically under a single umbrella.

"From our experiences and from firsthand knowledge, while we are fortunate in Mercer County to have an agency that fights for kids and tries to do what's right, that can't be said of every agency," he said.