Florida challenges gay adoption in Hollywood case
From the Miami Herald:
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[email protected]
State child-welfare administrators have appealed the adoption of an infant foster child by a gay Hollywood woman -- the second challenge to Florida's gay-adoption law currently under review.
Joe Follick, a spokesman for the Department of Children & Families, said his agency appealed the decision last month by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia to approve Vanessa Alenier's adoption of a relative taken into foster care shortly after his birth.
``Until there is a unified appellate court decision on this issue, we are bound by Florida statute to defend and adhere to the law,'' Follick said.
An earlier adoption by a gay father from North Miami is pending before the Third District of Appeal in Miami. A decision is expected soon.
Alenier's attorney, Alan Mishael, who has handled two of the state's three successful adoptions by gay people, blasted the state for fighting the adoption.
``Instead of leaving this family alone, DCF wants to break it up and is spending taxpayer dollars trying to do so,'' Mishael said.
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