Holy crap, folks...this one's a doozy...

[Innegativeion]

Guys its not that difficult, the girl was freaking kidnapped, and at two years old its certainly something the mother will remember. It's not like the mum put her up for adoption and now all of a sudden wants her child back. The kid absolutely has to go back to her true biological mother without question.

Its really not hard to put yourself in everyone's shoes here. Obviously the mum will want her daughter back. The kid is only 7 years old, she probably couldn't properly articulate in a sentence what family is yet let alone choose for herself who to live with.. Yeah it might sting for the adoptive parents but their feelings should come second to the mother and daughter.

I'm frankly more concerned about how she came to be put up for adoption after being kidnapped and that what ever legal system that was taking care of the adoption clearly missed something pretty fucking important...

Well, if we're going by the daughter's feelings, which you believe should come before the adoptive parents, at least, we'll almost certainly have her go back to her adoptive parents.

After all, the girl has spent approximately 70% of her life with the adoptive parents, and has no memory of her biological family. As far as the little girl is concerned, you might as well be taking her away from her real parents.

As for the biological mother, however, well... sometimes we're dealt a sour hand. It's no one's fault, but the kid has already spent half her early childhood with the adopters, and can't tell her biological mother from a hole in the wall. It'd be selfish to take her away from that.

Certainly, though, she should be given regular contact with the child, as someone else suggested.

Point is, it's all not so black and white.

 

[dyre]

Yeah people tend to forget how badly Eisenhower screwed us over, even before he became president. He screwed-up Sicily AND the Battle of the Bulge, then Fucked Iran by re-installing the Shah (all to kiss Britain's ass) and set us on the road to the disaster of Vietnam. Of course the coward waited until his fair-well speech to tell us 'hey you the military industrial complex? The thing I've done everything in my power to cater to and pretty much been the face of my entire career? Turns out they're not very nice people. But that your problem now.'

Yup, the guy was a total dick. I can't think of anything important besides the Suez Crisis that he actually handled well.

 

[daveman247]

Plus from living in a first-world country and then being taken to live in a third-world country would be pretty hard. In fact it would suck, hard :/

 

[renegade7]

Spooky, this was on Law and Order SVU just yesterday...

 

[Hat Man]

Being moved to a new country the child knows nothing about to live with a new family the child knows nothing about?

That would generate quite the shock for the child.

 

[fletch_talon]

Here's what we do.
We cut the child straight down the middle and give half to each family.
I think there was supposed to be another step to this plan but I'm sure I'll remember it... eventually.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Leave her in Missouri. I mean honestly, how many people here think she would really be better off living in Guatemala than she would be living in the US?

Not only is Guatemala one of the poorest countries in Latin America (with over half the population living in poverty), the little girl doesn't speak the language at all, and won't be able to communicate with her mother for at least a year while she's learning the language, which would be an extremely traumatic experience.

 

[Aidinthel]

I remember being seven. If you had told me that my parents weren't really my parents and I had to go live with someone else I'd never met, I would have freaked out. The girl should stay in the only home she's ever known.

 

[ultrachicken]

On the one hand, the biological mother deserves to have her kid back, but on the other, the kid would likely suffer quite a bit of trauma, as she doesn't even remember her biological family and would have to adjust to living in a country with a completely different language. I think that the child should remain with her adoptive family for her own sake, but the biological mother should be given regular contact with her child. Of course, that course of action carries its own set of unfortunate consequences (not the least of which being foreign affairs), but as no solution solves everything, I think it's the best.

 

[Bat Vader]

The girl has been living with her adopted family for I am guessing the last four or five years. She knows them better than she knows her biological mother. She may want to get to know her biological mother as well. I am curious to know how the adoptive family treats her/cares for her and how her biological mother would treat her/care for her.

 

[Risingblade]

Obviously she should be give back to her biological parents. She was kidnapped and they've been looking for her for the past 5 years. Hell her biological mother at the very least wants to be able to have contact with her. Seriously these adoptive parents have no right to keep the child from her real parents. The whole adoption thing wasn't actually official anyway.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Let the kid stay where she is and let the real mother have visitation.

Just giving her right back to the original parent is really foolish because, for all purposes, the adoptive family is her family now. Taking her and placing her in a house with a woman she doesnt know is just not a smart move.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Fuck...

I don't know the answer to that one, but it definitely involves several tons of bricks coming down on various people and organisations involved.

 

[Dags90]

Let the kid stay where she is and let the real mother have visitation.

Visitation...from Guatemala? Not sure if serious...

I don't see why we're questioning this, back to the biological mother.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

It's easy to say this because I'm no where in the position. I can be open minded because it's not my child.

But if it was my child, I would at least petition to be apart of my child's life. It's not as simple as people want to make it. Have you read the article? She was raised and taught by Timothy and Jennifer Monahan. I might not be up on my ethnic names, but that doesn't sound Latino. Shipping her to Guatemala, where she might be able to communicate with some of her family, if not all? Not to mention the people around her... if it happened to me, I would resent the woman. Yeah, she might be doing it out of love, but I'd be a freaking kid. all I know is that my friends are gone, my family is gone, my home is gone, and I'm supposed to live with someone I just don't know and am now told 'this is my new family now'?

I'd spend every night trying to escape.

So... If this was my child, the best I could ever ask for is to be apart of her life. I can't rationally expect my life to be whole again just because I know my daughter is alive. I can not fix five of the most crucial years in a child's life, where she makes her bonds. But I would try to have a life with her and help raise her.

Anything else is selfish, even if it's supported by law.

 

[Supertegwyn]

Obviously she should be give back to her biological parents. She was kidnapped and they've been looking for her for the past 5 years. Hell her biological mother at the very least wants to be able to have contact with her. Seriously these adoptive parents have no right to keep the child from her real parents. The whole adoption thing wasn't actually official anyway.

And what if the child doesn't want to go to the biological parents?

She can't even remember them, and you expect her to just instantly take them up and leave the family that has raised her for most of her life?

The adoptive family deserves her.

 

[3quency]

Here's what we do.
We cut the child straight down the middle and give half to each family.
I think there was supposed to be another step to this plan but I'm sure I'll remember it... eventually.

Then we keep the bits they don't want. It's a win-win.


In all seriousness, this is an odd one. I mean, she's literally spent the majority of her life with this adopted family, if she was given the choice I doubt the real mother would have a chance.
But does she get the choice?

 

[dumbseizure]

It all comes down to who would provide the better physical and mental stability and benefits for the child.

The original mother can want the child back all she likes, but if she can not provide for the child, and if it causes the child emotional stress, it isn't beneficial for her.

However, because she has already been living with the foster family, and if she seems comfortable there, I believe she should stay there.

In my opinion, screw what the biological or adoptive parents want, the needs and stability of the child come first.

Guys its not that difficult, the girl was freaking kidnapped, and at two years old its certainly something the mother will remember. It's not like the mum put her up for adoption and now all of a sudden wants her child back. The kid absolutely has to go back to her true biological mother without question.

Why should she "absolutely" have to go back to her biological mother?

What if this change of scenery causes the daughter concern? Mental stress? What if it affects her in a negative way?

How can you justify saying she "absolutely" has to go back with (from what I am reading, correct me if I am wrong) no concern for the child's mental health?

 

[Guffe]

This is a tricky one.
Because she knows the parents she has got now and has friends etc.
Besides she doesn't know her "real mom" so maybe she could visit her once in a while and maybe as the kid gets older they could start wondering more about it.
So let her stay were she is, she most likely gets good education etc and start meeting with her mom, but staying were she has lived the past 5 years.

 

[Eamar]

Well, obviously it's going to be uncomfortable for everyone involved whatever happens, but she HAS to end up back with the biological mother, surely? Not immediately, but in the end that's how it has to be.

Can you imagine being the parent of a child who was stolen, spending five years searching for her, finally finding the kid, only to have the courts decide to effectively uphold the kidnapping? That's the stuff of nightmares, right there.

Also, I'm trying really, really hard not to judge but... if you're going to adopt a child from a foreign country SURELY you'd do a fucktonne of research into how adoption works legally there and who you have to go through? I have no idea how convincing the traffickers were, but I can't help but feel the adoptive parents should have done some more digging :/