Messages By: the_polkadot

I am all about adoption...I am personally involved in adopting a child soon...but I only support it when it is done in an ethical and morally sound way.  Here is a woman, who was extremely vulnerable...and malnourished.  She was sleep deprived and trying to recover from a c-section.  She was and is the only person who endured pure "hell" to bring angels into this world.  I feel that her babies need and love her and deserve to be with her again.  She needs to have tons of her supporters "show up", either through emails/letters or at court to surround her with tons of support and friendship.  I feel we need to right this wrong so it never happens to anyone else ever again.  She is a good person who simply needed time to make such a life changing decision.  I look forward to supporting Allison through as many court dates as it takes.  Please, if you believe in God, Pray for Allison and the babies.  The Judge could use your prayers too.  I believe Allison has been greatly wronged and justice will eventually be served.  I hope you feel the same way..If not I still respect your feelings.....

When you come to a message board like this, I suppose you can expect people not to get along.  I guess in my naivity, I thought this would be a place where we can all express ourselves and be respected and enlightened by each others opinions.  I personally come to this particular board because I do fully support Allison.  That is not to say that I don't support the Needhams.  It is just to say that I personally believe the beginning way the Adoption was created was not ideal/ethical.  The problem is, as time goes on the case of these people gets increasingly complicated.  Like people have said, these children have bonded with the Needhams.  Several Judges have found it in the best interest of the children to stay with them.  And there are facts that support both sides of the case.  I simply feel the adoption never should have happened in the first place.  But it did.  We all need to remember that everyone here on this board is trying to decide for themselves what they think the best solution to this case is.  Every one of us has had different experiences in our lives, which make our perspectives 100% different (even if we all either support reunification or not.)  So , please try to remember that other people's opinions matter.  Even if we don't agree, it shows good character to respect and appreciate different points of view.  I hope you know that I honestly appreciate all of your comments since I am always open to new points of view. 

Whenever a lawyer is preparing for a case, they assimilate the facts and basically create a timeline of the events that occurred.  My impression of the facts are as follows:

Allison was a success College graduate and employee.  She was married and then later divorced (according to her because he didn't want kids).  She went through 3 years of invitro to get pregnant.  She got hyper emesis while pregnant.  She lost an enormous amount of weight and struggled through a c-section and required blood after.  She had a boyfriend who was related to the Adoptive Family.  They were interested in adopting the twins.  At six weeks old she signed the initial paper and they came and got custody.  She immediately changed her mind and was soon in a horrible, lengthy legal battle.   She took the children to Canada and was found and charged with International Kidnapping.  She is in Jail awaiting trial.  She was featured on the Dr. Phil show and other programs.  People seem to take one side or the other of the issue..not many people have no opinion when they hear about the case.  What are your thoughts on these facts?  Are they accurate?  I would love to hear your thoughts on the case.

I am going to spell out exactly what I think about the case.  Feel free to disagree-this is America.  I feel Allison was horribly sick (mentally (temporarily) only by the physical illness and medications) and needed a major support system.  From what I understand, her sister lives in another state and is a single mom.  I think Allison wanted desperately to be a mother and I feel she is the MOTHER to the twins.  I think Allison made some very poor choices but I completely understand why she did and therefore should still remain the twin's full custodial mother.  I am sure many of us know of divorce situations where the mother is still "the mother" yet she doesn't retain physical custody of the children.  If I were the Judge, she would regain full custodial rights.  Why is that?  Because she was under EXTREME DURESS AND STRESS and no one should be held accountable for making such a life changing decision without their full mental and physical strength and consent.  Here was a woman who needed help.  She was exhausted, I know first hand how difficult it is to deal with newborn twins ( Mine are six years old now) and she was experiencing a difficult recovery from a C-Section.  She meets all the criteria I was use to define someone as "under duress."  So there is my opinion...You don't have to convince me that she is the first victim and her twins are the second of a sad situation.  They deserve to be together and I personally feel strongly her case will be overturned and she will regain full custody.