Rejecting a Family Court judge’s finding that adoption consents executed by the biological parents of a baby girl were invalid, a state appellate court has reversed an order that the child be returned to them in Nebraska, and remanded the proposed adoption for a hearing on the child’s best interests.
The Appellate Division, First Department, in In re Adoption of Baby U., yesterday unanimously disagreed with Judge Sheldon Rand’s conclusion that a Nebraska lawyer had inadequately represented the birth parents, identified as Teresea U. and Paul E., because he had been referred to the couple by the adoptive parents’ lawyer in New York, and had handled more than 85 adoptions for the New York firm, Michelman & Goldheim.
