Let's see who in Jacksonville played a role in this horrible tragedy...


MICHAEL SHORSTEIN & BRIAN KELLY (SHORSTEIN & KELLY)

S&K: Shorstein was the adoption attorney representing the Needhams. Kelly handled the final brief session where the consents were signed while I was still quite ill, on a dose of sedatives, and extremely sleep-deprived. At one point, Shorstein took the documents forcibly and refused to return them. I knew if he took them, he would also take my babies. I called 911 and Shorstein returned them to me.

This is from Dr. Phil's show:
“She was quite ambivalent about moving forward with this adoption, and she signed some paperwork and then said, 'Please give me that paperwork back. I've made a mistake.' And she became so upset that she called 911?

A recording of the 911 call conveys Allison’s hysterical tone:

Operator: 911
Allison: Yes, I need help please. I'm in an attorney's office and I want a document back and he won't give it to me.
Lawyer: It's not your document.
Allison: It is my document, and he won't give it to me.
Lawyer: It's not your document.
Allison: Please, he won't give it to me.
Operator: What kind of document is it, ma'am?
Allison: It's an adoption document. He's going to take my babies. He won't give it to me.
Lawyer: They're not your babies.
Allison: He won't give me back the document. I signed it, and I was holding it —
Operator: What is your name, ma'am? What is your name?
Allison: Allison. My name's Allison. Please. Please. I want my document back. He won't give it to me. Please. He won't give it to me. 

"Well, Larry, I think what's most important is people have to understand that the biological parents have the fundamental right for the care, control and custody of their children, and I think that's what's being overlooked here."

It is a legal limbo that worries people like Anne Liddicote, a family specialist. "This is something that concerns a lot of adoptive parents, more and more openness," said Liddicote of Home Study Services of North Carolina. "It gives birth mothers control over something they don't have control of." Liddicote says 85 percent of woman considering giving up their children for adoption change their minds right after birth and keep their babies. A woman changing her mind after signing the paperwork, she says, is highly unusual. "It is uncommon, which is a good thing, but when it happens it makes news," Liddicote said.

This should not make news. It is simple, the child should be returned to the mother. Children are not property to be given or sold to others.

Sealing court records prohibits the general public from knowing not only the identities of the participants, but also how the proceedings were conducted. Since few natural parents can afford to go to trail (even fewer to the appellate court), no one knows how many actually contest the adoption of their children. The ones that can't find justice in the courts which are heavily weighted toward the prospective couple, sometimes take desperate measures such as leaving the area with their child.

Attorneys openly admit that once the prospective couple manages to take "possession" of a child, it is nearly impossible for a natural parent to regain custody. Often laws such as the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children are ignored as well as other violations. These practices constitute child trafficking. It is the destruction of natural families for the purposes of profit by private attorneys, agencies, social workers, and others.

Prospective adoptive parent's interest in the child he wishes to adopt does not rise to level of fundamental liberty interest entitled to substantive protection of due process clause. U.S.C.A. Const.Amends. 5, 14

In Florida, there is NOT even a second to change your mind after the papers are signed, unless your child is over six months when you have a generous three days. That is why so many adoptions are completed in Florida. Since newborns are in high demand, couples are willing to pay thousands of dollars more than they would for a young child.

According to Shorstein,
"Finding couples who want to adopt a child isn’t the issue –
for every healthy baby there are about 50 people who
want the baby, he said."

This means job security and healthy profits for adoption professionals, especially if it is difficult to revoke consent even in just a few days. The adoption industry makes $1.4 billion dollars annually in the US and is largely unregulated and untaxed.


JUDGE ELMIE MCRAE MATHIS (4TH DISTRICT CIRCUIT COURT)

MATHIS : As a circuit court judge, Mathis presided over the trial, and many motions since. Although most rotate out annually, he has remained in the same court for several years, allowing him to preside over my case for nearly four calender years.

This has resulted in nearly every motion coming before Judge Mathis being decided in favor of Michael Shorstein and the Needhams. Interestingly, for a decade, Mathis worked in the State Attorney's office directly under Shorstein's uncle, Harry Shorstein. Michael Shorstein served on the Judicial Nominating Committee which nominated Mathis for this judgeship. The voting records are sealed, however, it is likely that these close associates supported each other.

Judge Mathis has been involved in other high-profile contested adoptions, and been criticized online for his rulings in other family custody cases. The site states the following:

"The case is made even worse by the details. Judge Elmie McRae Mathis, of the Fourth Circuit Court in this case ordered two children to be placed in the custody of an abusive mother, despite testimony and affidavits detailing extensive abuse and neglect. The evidence in the case before the Supreme Court included the testimony of two people, but that has since been supported at the trial court level by the technical admissions of the mother. The Mother has even actively fought in court for the “right” to have the children in the presence of her brother – who has admitted to, and been convicted of, molesting one of the children."

Interestingly, Judge Mathis has worked with Harry Shorstein during ABOTA proceedings. "Judge Wallace, Judge Mac Mathis and State Attorney Harry Shorstein formed a panel that discussed their views and observations of common mistakes and pitfalls facing young lawyers in handling cases before the courts." 

Judge Wallace is known for his role in promoting adoption in Duval county where he is a circuit court judge. "Circuit Judge Waddell A. Wallace has recently joined Judge Gooding as a Dependency Court Judge and is now also playing an important role in boosting adoption numbers in Duval County." Hopefully, these are foster care adoptions - children who truly need a hero to give them a loving home. Judge Wallace had the difficult job of deciding the best interest of Evan [Scott] White.


MARK MAHON (FORMER STATE REP, NOW A JUDGE IN THE 4TH CIRCUIT COURT)

MAHON : As a State Representative, Mahon actively promoted the legislative changes written by the FL Adoption Council (FAC), a group of adoption attorneys that lobby for pro-adoption legislation. During my litigation, he represented Shorstein & Kelly who routinely promote the notion of "open adoptions" even though the state of Florida has not recognized those as legal contracts until 2007. Florida has been a closed adoption state. Therefore, any mention of the concept of open adoptions used to induce a mother to sign a consent is fraud.

Hon. Mahon was recently appointed judge in the 4th Circuit Court in Duval County. This happened just at the right time - he would "term-out" of his legislative duties next year. Shorstein & Kelly now have another judge they can confidently feel is committed to supporting their objectives.


MICHAEL SOLLOWAY (PSYCHIATRIST)

SOLLOWAY : Dr. Solloway conducts mental health evaluations for the court at the request of Garfinkel, and others. He evaluated me over five months after my ordeal with Shorstein & Kelly, and determined that I was in no way incompetent to make decisions while I was in Shorstein's office. He stated that I was competent to sign contracts five months earlier when I was only five weeks postpartum. He did not have knowledge of my medical condition during pregnancy and after delivery. He did not review my medical records or conduct any psychological tests to make that determination.

Judge Mathis agreed and found Dr. Solloway to be more credible than the numerous other medical experts that testified. These independent experts all agreed that the illnesses and sleep deprivation, over the nine months previous to my encounter with Shorstein & Kelly, would no doubt greatly impair my ability to focus, problem solve, think long-term, and plan. It is illogical to state that I was in excellent health. I have blurred memories of those weeks, and know I suffered from severe postpartum depression and trauma.

Here is an excerpt from the extensive evaluation of me by expert, Dr. Bloomfield.

[Transcript of above: "During the course of the evaluative process, she presented in no particular, acute distress. There was nothing unusual found. She demonstrated no limitations in any of the domains that I assessed. There were no signs or evidence of a thought disorder or a major affective, cognitive or behavioral disorder. She showed no abnormalities of thought, affect or behavior, no gross abnormalities, nothing bizarre and no cognitive slippages. I did not find her to use any unusual kinds of logic or strange associations. There were no indications of psychosis or organicity. There were no hallucinations or delusions. She seemed to experience thoughts in a spontaneous and normal manner while remaining lucid and coherent. I failed to elicit any symptomatic behaviors."]

OTHER KEY ADOPTION PROFESSIONALS IN FLORIDA

Like Mahon, Attorney Patricia Strowbridge in FL is also actively involved in the Florida Adoption Council (FAC) and a former president, and states she proposes the legislation that is passed by the legislator and sponsored by Mark Mahon. Her associate, Jeanne Tate, also actively promotes the rights of prospective adoptive couples and adoption attorneys as president of the FAC. Together, they have advocated for elimination of the revocation period for newborns, and legislation that imposes greater restrictions on the rights of natural parents. These adoption entities have been the subject of other public contested adoptions, including Catherine Ristow and Rashad Head.

In an article printed by the St. Petersburg Times in April of 2006, the reality of today's adoptions is clear.

"Three weeks before his son's birth, he was contacted by Jeanne Tate, an attorney for Heart of Adoptions Inc., a for-profit adoption agency in Tampa, and learned for the first time that he was going to be a dad. Jones said it was "the happiest news you're ever going to get in your lifetime." He told Tate he would not consent to an adoption and asked what he needed to do to secure his rights. But he says Tate refused to help and withheld information about Florida's Putative Fathers' Registry requirement. When asked about the conversation, Tate said she could not speak specifically about the case due to confidentiality, but explained that she was constrained from giving legal advice "to an adversary." Only in the disturbed world of unethical adoptions is a dad an "adversary." When a biological father who is fit says he wants to raise his son, everything should screech to a halt. But then, of course, the adoption agency wouldn't make any money. Even Tate admitted, "it's a business.""

Strowbridge runs a charitable organization called "A Chosen Child" which states the following: "A Chosen Child, Inc., is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, Florida licensed child placement agency. Established and guided by Christian principles, A Chosen Child, Inc., is devoted to the creation and preservation of families, securing loving, stable homes for infants and children, and providing a supportive environment for birth parents."

However, it is interesting to see an adoption entity say they are devoted to the preservation of families and guided by Christian principals. In the Bible, there is a verse that seems to apply to these 'charitable' and highly profitable organizations: "The wicked snatch fatherless children from their mother's breasts, and take a poor man's baby as a pledge before they will loan him any money or grain." Job 24:9

They have also recently appeared before the Florida Supreme Court (Real Player) or WMP) opposing adoption attorney Susan Stockham. (You can watch the Oral Arguments on http://146.201.215.81/gavel2gavel/archives/07-06.htm or read the transcripts.) Evidently, there was a finding of fraudulent acts by the adoption entity and returned custody to the father. In the detailed ruling, the Supreme Court Justices wrote the following about Tate's "charitable" agency:

"Instead of the required notice under section 63.062(3), J.A. was provided with misleading information by the adoption entity which misstated Florida law and misinformed him of the steps necessary to preserve his parental rights."

In an article for Talk magazine, " DeFede reports on a boutique adoption service in Florida and its elite baby broker, Richard Gitelman, who places ads nationally seeking pregnant women, and then auctions their babies to the highest bidder among the adopters on his list. His prices vary from $75,000 to $250,000 for healthy white infants."


MICHAEL KORN (KORN & ZEHMER)

KORN : Appellate court motions were filed by attorney Korn on behalf of the Needhams and Shorstein. He, too, is part of the Jacksonville Jewish community. Interestingly, despite the distance required for the judges to travel, appellate proceedings took place in Jacksonville, Duval County. This is unfortunate as it is one of the Florida courthouses where the public cannot watch video of the oral arguments.


BARRY ZISSER (ZISSER & ROBINSON, BROWN, NOWLIS & MACIEJEWSKI)

ZISSER : Motions for attorney fees and trial counsel provided by Zisser on behalf of the social worker, Kathleen Stevens. Even though a complaint has been filed against Stevens for her conduct in the role of social worker, Zisser is dedicated to getting her legal fees reimbursed from opposing counsel and myself.