It was the first movie I can remember sobbing through. The Kid Who Loved Christmas was one of those movies that made every mom grab her child and refuse to let go – no matter how hard they squirmed.
The quick synopsis: All that’s left for Mom and Dad to adopt a little boy is their John and Jane Hancocks. Suddenly, Mom dies.The courts decide the same guy they were so willing to allow to adopt little Reggie last week isn’t up to snuff. Apparently, a single man adopting a little boy just isn’t done (methinks not much has changed since the early ‘90s). Little Reggie opts to march out to the department store Santa to solve the problem. Cue the tears. Buckets of them.
I got a little wet around the eyes when I heard the story of an 11-year-old boy from Genesee County, Michigan this week, caught in another adoption loophole.
The boy has been a ward of the state since 2004, and there’s a new Mom and Dad just waiting to take him home. But Genesee County Probate Court Judge Jennie E. Barkey laid down the law with officials at a non-profit Children’s Center she says has botched the boy’s adoption.
She fined the non-profit Whaley Children’s Home and told officials, "Next time, whoever's the head of Whaley is going to go to jail."
I’m all for careful review of potential adoptive parents – although even that can go to extremes, according to some friends who’ve tried the domestic adoption route before going overseas. But once a family has been cleared, a child essentially chosen, shouldn’t everything be fast-tracked so children can get on with their lives?
Source: The Flint Journal
