Abandonment case raises concerns for adoption advocates

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

When an Ohio couple recently gave child welfare officials a 9-year-old boy they raised from infancy, prosecutors said they committed a crime. People within the adoption community say giving up a child after so much time is rare and undermines the lifelong commitment that adopted children require.

“Parenthood is supposed to be forever — not until there are issues,” said Sixto Cancel, a 21-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University junior who also is an advocate for adopted and fostered children.

The suburban Cincinnati parents indicted on misdemeanor counts of nonsupport reportedly left the boy with children services after saying he was displaying aggressive behavior and earlier threatened the family with a knife. Cleveland Cox, 49, and his 52-year-old wife, Lisa, are due in court today. Neither they nor their attorney, Anthony Vannoy, immediately returned calls to comment.

Adolfo Olivas, an attorney appointed by the court to protect the boy’s interests, has said the emotionally hurt and confused child is now receiving help that the parents should have gotten for him.

Cancel believes it was up to the parents to get help for their son, even if he didn’t want it.

Cancel, of Richmond, Va., said he experienced abuse and never found a good fit, moving from a troubled adoptive home to foster-care homes.

As an adoptee, “you need reassurance that you are not alone,” he said.

Christopher Hehn, of Greenwood, Ind., said adoptees crave stability. Hehn, 27, was shuffled from foster home to foster home before a social worker adopted him at age 12.

“When the going got tough, it was out the door for me,” Hehn said. “But when I was adopted, my mother said it was forever, no matter what. She stuck it out, and I was finally able to trust again.”

Greg and Robin Smith, of New Richmond in Clermont County, became adoptive parents in a ceremony last week, adopting four siblings — age 5 to 12 — who they cared for as foster children for more than three years.

Robin Smith acknowledged some anger and other issues among the children, stemming from their experiences before coming to the Smiths.

“But you just can’t give up on children, not matter how hard the situation is,” she said.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser has declined to provide more details on the charges against the Coxes, but he said there are legal consequences to what he called “reckless” abandonment.