ATLANTA, GA. – After a three-month stay in foster care, a seven-year-old
Georgia girl has been reunited with her “Mommy.” The child named Emma had
lived with Elizabeth Hadaway, 28, for more than a year before Wilkinson
County Superior Court Judge John Lee Parrott ordered her to go to a
crowded foster home on February 20 of this year, severing the yearlong
bond between Emma and Hadaway solely because of Hadaway’s lesbian sexual
orientation.
"Emma and I missed each other so much while we were separated, and I hope
she can put this painful experience behind her quickly. But I'm grateful
to DFCS for recognizing that Emma's biological mother always had her best
interests at heart in wanting her to live with me," said Elizabeth
Hadaway, a paramedic who first took in the little girl when the child's
biological mother asked her to raise and adopt Emma. "Emma and I are just
so glad she's finally home."
Although Emma's biological mother told the court that she wished for the
child to be raised and adopted by Hadaway, Wilkinson County Superior Court
Judge John Lee Parrott ordered that the child be taken away from her home
when he learned that Hadaway is a lesbian. DFCS agreed that the biological
mother's wishes should be honored, and Emma was reunited with Elizabeth on
Friday.
“The law serves families best when focused on the needs of children,
rather than the prejudices or assumptions of adults," said Gerry Weber,
Legal Director of the ACLU of Georgia, who represents Hadaway. "We're
pleased to have given a helping hand to reuniting this family, but no
child should be torn away from a loving home because her parent is lesbian
or gay in the first place."
"We're glad that DFCS agreed that it must honor the decision of the
biological mother to allow Elizabeth to raise Emma," said Ken Choe, a
senior staff attorney with the ACLU's national Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender Project. "Children like Emma shouldn't have to fear being torn
away from their homes and families just because their parents are gay."
In
an interview with the Equality Herald, Choe pointed out that there are two
issues involved in this case. “We are looking at two separate issues:
custody and adoption. The removal of this child from Hadaway’s custody
only to languish in foster care is egregious. Child custody should be
decided on the basis of what is in the best interests of the child,”
explains Choe. “All of the social workers and other professionals involved
in this case found Hadaway to be a good parent. Parrott decided to remove
the child from the home on the basis of her sexual orientation alone.”
Hadaway has been caring for Emma for almost a year and the child calls her
"Mommy." Their predicament came after several months of legal proceedings
in which Hadaway fought to keep her. The little girl's biological mother,
who had sole custody, asked Hadaway to raise and adopt the child after
struggling for years to care for her in spite of a variety of problems
that included financial hardships and a difficult life on the road as a
truck driver. With the biological mother's blessing, Hadaway was granted
legal custody in 2006. Under Hadaway's care, the child began making great
strides in her schoolwork, self-confidence, and emotional well-being.
Several months later, Wilkinson County Superior Court Judge John Lee
Parrott was on the verge of granting Hadaway's request to permanently
adopt Emma when he noticed in the home study that Hadaway was living at
the time with her partner of seven years and abruptly changed his mind. In
January of this year, Parrott denied the adoption, ordering that Emma be
sent back to her biological mother. Hadaway complied and met with the
biological mother at a truck stop to hand over the girl. After accepting
custody, thus satisfying Parrott's order, the biological mother saw how
distraught Emma was at being taken from Hadaway and again insisted that
Hadaway should raise the girl.
Hadaway, who had moved with Emma to Bibb County in late December, again
applied for custody in her new home county with the biological mother's
full consent. Shortly after that, Parrott ordered the little girl be taken
from her home to live in foster care on February 20 in spite of the
biological mother's wishes. In early April a Bibb County judge then
granted custody of the child to Hadaway, after hearing evidence from an
expert commissioned by Wilkinson County DFCS to study Emma in her foster
home. The expert found that the little girl was unable to get the
individualized attention she needs in her foster home and was experiencing
emotional trauma because of the separation from Hadaway.
In spite of all this, Parrott found Hadaway and her attorney in contempt
of court, and sentenced them to jail time and a fine. On May 21, the ACLU
argued that Wilkinson County DFCS must allow Emma to return home. The
ACLU will brief the appeal of Judge Parrott's contempt order in the
Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday of this week.
Hadaway is represented by Weber and Maggie Garrett of the ACLU of Georgia,
Choe and James Esseks of the ACLU's national LGBT Project, and cooperating
counsel Dan Bloom of Pachman Richardson, LLC in Atlanta and Amy Waggoner
of Aussenberg Waggoner, LLP in Alpharetta.
In
an interview with the Equality Herald, Choe pointed out that there are two
issues involved in this case. “We are looking at two separate issues:
custody and adoption. The removal of this child from Hadaway’s custody
only to languish in foster care is egregious. Child custody should be
decided on the basis of what is in the best interests of the child,”
explains Choe. “All of the social workers and other professionals involved
in this case found Hadaway to be a good parent. Parrott decided to remove
the child from the home on the basis of her sexual orientation alone.”
