US Supreme Court Hearing Vaughn's Appeal Re: GRAYSON

Ben's fight for with the Vaughns for his son Grayson has been reported here and here.

Today, the Supreme Court of the US decides...

David Houston writes:

"The Vaughns filed their first adoption petition against Ben back in January of 2008 claiming that Ben was a putative father and their adoption could be granted against him without his consent as he had willfully refused to support Drucilla (the then still married mother) knowing she was pregnant with his baby.

"Ben had previously registered with the Ohio putative father registry in mid-November of 2007, 17 days after birth of the boy on October 29, 2007, and had also filed a timely petition for his parental rights in late December of 2007 - before the Vaughns filed their first adoption petition in January of 2008. Ben denied the Vaughns' claims of willful non-support and insisted on a paternity test to see if he was the real (biological) father of the baby.

"The Vaughns tried to stop that as they did not want Ben declared to be the real father. The reason is that Ohio law provides more protections to real fathers than putative ones. The Vaughns argued that truth was irrelevant and that Ben's status as putative father could never be changed to real father, because they had gotten their adoption petition filed BEFORE paternity testing was done. The Ohio courts rejected that claim and paternity testing proceeded, the result being Ben was found to be the real father and his status in the adoption court was changed from putative father to real father over the Vaughns objections.

"That created an immediate problem for the Vaughns as under Ohio law - the failure of a REAL or BIOLOGICAL father to support a pregnant mother is NOT a ground for adoption without his consent (it may be grounds for sending the real father to jail or other actions, but not a ground for adoption without his consent). The Ohio courts ruled it was no longer relevant whether Ben had willfully failed to support Drucilla, as even if he had, that would not allow them to grant any adoption without his consent, given his status as real father.

"The Vaughns instead had to show that Ben had failed without justification to have more than de minimus contact with his son or had failed without justification to support his son for 1 year or longer, and the Vaughns could not possibly prove that as 1 year had not passed. The court then dismissed the adoption petition as premature (not yet ripe for decision) and the Vaughns have been appealing and filing meritless often frivolous legal garbage ever since.

"The Ohio Supreme Court made multiple decisions against them upholding the lower Ohio courts. They recently filed a petition for certiorari (review) in the Supreme Court of the United States, asking it to review and overturn the Ohio Supreme Court and that petition is voted on today. They must get the votes of 4 justices or the petition is automatically denied. If the petition is denied then the decisions of the Ohio Supreme Court stand that Ben is a real not putative father, and that no adoption can be had without his consent regardless of any best interests of the child - UNLESS the Vaughns first prove that Ben refused to have any real contact or refused to support his son for over 1 year, starting from March of 2009 to September of 2010.

"The Vaughns cannot possibly prove that, period, so it means they can NEVER adopt Ben's son under Ohio law. I should also add that Ben did not willfully refuse to support Drucilla, and the Vaughns have never had a trace of credible evidence otherwise, so really in a sense the Vaughns cannot win no matter what. But their abuse continues."

Watch for the results!