Utah – hopeful news…but still not holding my breath…

Wes Hutchins the president of the Utah Adoption Council resigned Tuesday.  Not only did he resign, he also spoke out very specifically, on camera (video in link below).

Utah Adoption Council president resigns amid fathers’ rights controversy

SALT LAKE CITY — The president of the Utah Adoption Council resigned Tuesday amid controversy over claims the council is working to undermine the rights of birth fathers.

Wes Hutchins was to serve another month as president of the Utah Adoption Council (UAC) — a group consisting of adoption agencies, adoption attorneys, families, and birth mothers and fathers. Instead, he’s founded a new nonprofit organization he says will work in the best interests of all parties in adoptions.

There was certainly friction in Tuesday’s council meeting, as some representing adoption agencies accused Hutchins of having his own agenda. In turn, he pointed fingers at them for not acting ethically in administering adoptions.

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Adoptions are supposed to be ethical.  For me, I also believe the state must have a vested interest in ensuring no ones rights were compromised, or disregarded, because they are approving the adoption.  At least in my opinion, they should be taking adoption as one of the most serious acts they do. 

Hutchins pointed to what he calls “egregious cases of fraud,” namely: the case of Christopher Carlton, who was told by the birth mother that his child had died, and the case of Robert Manzanares, who was told by the birth mother she was traveling from Colorado to Utah to visit relatives when she was actually giving up their child.

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“Wes has had a different vision of what’s best for children in the state of Utah,” said attorney David Hardy, also a former president of the UAC.

Hardy, whose clients include adoption agencies and adoptive parents, said Hutchins isn’t as focused on what’s best for the child.

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So it is in the best interests of the child, to separate the child from their natural-born family where there are no safety concerns, who wish to parent their child, but it’s better because adoption is the superior family?  Since when?  Do people really believe that adoption attorneys and adoption agencies – whose bottom line depends on adoptions, don’t have their own agenda to be concerned about?

“Wes has taken more of the approach of some of the rights of fathers,” Hardy said. “He’s taken some real strong positions on fathers that are, in many ways, inconsistent with Utah code.”

“There’s been a very choreographed effort to sweep birth fathers and others under the rug,” Hutchins said.

Yet, at the end of the day, Mr. Hutchins is now out of the UAC, and that makes it hard for me to see how he will be able to make a difference, at least in the near future anyway.