Indiana Surrogate Twins Adoption Denied and Remanded Back to Lower courts
Just when I thought it was safe to go to bed, I get a google alert on an Indiana case that I have followed over the years. Steven Litz is in the news again. Indiana Supreme Court has announced its dissent on the surrogate twins in Indiana. A 60 year old gay man entered into a contract with Steven Litz and a surrogate mother to parent an infant. The surrogacy being what it is resulted in a set of twins. There is now a great deal of information that was not originally released to the press. I wrote about this case a while back since it pertains to Indiana adoptions. I am an Indiana adoptee.
You need to have a background on Steven Litz. He has had a couple of disciplinary reprimands against him over the years. The first one was in 1999. Steven Litz caused to be published in several newspapers a letter that stated his client had committed no crime, criticized the prosecutor's decision to retry the case and mentioned that his client had passed a lie detector test. He violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rule 3.6 (a) which forbids attorneys from making extrajudicial statements which they know or reasonably know should have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding. In other words, it could have a serious effect on getting an impartial jury. He received a public reprimand on that situation. In 2008, he got into trouble again. He violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rule 4.2 which prohibits improperly communicating with a person the lawyer knows to be represented by another lawyer in the matter. In 2006, he was sued for violating the confidentiality of payment history of approximately 150 customers of sewer services. The customers were in delinquent status. It is obvious that he has a tendency to violate confidentiality. He also runs Surrogate Mothers,Inc. According to his Indiana Secretary of state filings, he is the registering agent and the president of this for profit company. Keep in mind it is for profit. There is no tax forms available to the public. Even the surrogate mothers do not like this man.
His webpage has stated the following:
Mr. Steven Melinger hired Surrogate Mothers, Inc and Steven Litz in 2004 to conceive a child with a surrogate mother, Zaria Huffman of South Carolina. The surrogacy arrangement used the egg donations of a donor out of California, the combination of Mr. Melinger's sperm and anonymous donor, and Ms. Huffman as the surrogate. Mrs. Huffman by the way is married to a military member and is covered by Tricare which paid for all of her medical expenses. When it appeared that none of his sperm took after the birth of the twin girls, he was then required to legally adopt these girls. He subsequently hired Paralegal On Call to do a homestudy. They claim that they are a child placing agency. What they really are a mobile notary and debt collection service. In the December of 2005 issue of Legal Assistant Today, they were found to have many violations according to Indiana DCS. I do also want to state in this situation that there is no website or advertisement for this "child placing" agency. This agency has also been on the Department of State's list of agencies that have failed to comply with Russian post placement reports. Hattie A. Hunt was the person from Paralegal On Call who did the homestudy. Pamela G. Page is the owner of the company according to Indiana Secretary of State's website. Ms. Hunt only did the homestudy on the temporary Indianapolis residence which was basically a hotel room. Mr. Melinger's home in New Jersey was never visited or studied.
On April 13, 2005 Mr. Melinger filed a petiton to adopt the twins who he has named after the surrogate mother. Their names are Kathy Zee and Karen Zaria which is ironic. The trial court did not approve the adoption where as the Indiana Court of Appeals did. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 5-0 against the adoption. It has been remanded back to the trial court for further evaluations. This adoption must comply with Indiana ICPC law which states that the homestudy must comply with the mother's state of record (which could be California for the eggs or South Carolina for the mother) along with a valid homestudy out of New Jersey. Since Mr. Melinger was also a resident with New Jersey, not Indiana as he originally claimed. He must have New Jersey's Department of Child Welfare inspect his home and do a homestudy. The Indiana Supreme Court has given him a temporary custody order until this issue is resolved.
You need to have a background on Steven Litz. He has had a couple of disciplinary reprimands against him over the years. The first one was in 1999. Steven Litz caused to be published in several newspapers a letter that stated his client had committed no crime, criticized the prosecutor's decision to retry the case and mentioned that his client had passed a lie detector test. He violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rule 3.6 (a) which forbids attorneys from making extrajudicial statements which they know or reasonably know should have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding. In other words, it could have a serious effect on getting an impartial jury. He received a public reprimand on that situation. In 2008, he got into trouble again. He violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rule 4.2 which prohibits improperly communicating with a person the lawyer knows to be represented by another lawyer in the matter. In 2006, he was sued for violating the confidentiality of payment history of approximately 150 customers of sewer services. The customers were in delinquent status. It is obvious that he has a tendency to violate confidentiality. He also runs Surrogate Mothers,Inc. According to his Indiana Secretary of state filings, he is the registering agent and the president of this for profit company. Keep in mind it is for profit. There is no tax forms available to the public. Even the surrogate mothers do not like this man.
His webpage has stated the following:
Of the 2000 or so births to surrogates in the country, a woman has refused to relinquish the child less than 1% of the time. SMI has never had this happen. In every case where it has, the surrogate either was not screened at all, or the couple was not made aware of the psychological findings. When surrogacy is done right, it works.He states that it has not occurred. Funny thing is that I found this article. The surrogate mothers also stated that a mother took off with the child and refused to turn the child over to the "other set" of parents. I have to make something perfectly clear. Homosexuality places absolutely no role in this for me. The bird and its poop places no role in it for me. Its his age that plays a major role for me. He is 58 years of age when he decides to adopt. He will be 76 when these twin girls turn eighteen. That is too old. He can't have fun with them. God only knows if he will still be alive. That is my issue with this case. According to news articles and the Indiana courts, there is more to the picture than originally thought.
Mr. Steven Melinger hired Surrogate Mothers, Inc and Steven Litz in 2004 to conceive a child with a surrogate mother, Zaria Huffman of South Carolina. The surrogacy arrangement used the egg donations of a donor out of California, the combination of Mr. Melinger's sperm and anonymous donor, and Ms. Huffman as the surrogate. Mrs. Huffman by the way is married to a military member and is covered by Tricare which paid for all of her medical expenses. When it appeared that none of his sperm took after the birth of the twin girls, he was then required to legally adopt these girls. He subsequently hired Paralegal On Call to do a homestudy. They claim that they are a child placing agency. What they really are a mobile notary and debt collection service. In the December of 2005 issue of Legal Assistant Today, they were found to have many violations according to Indiana DCS. I do also want to state in this situation that there is no website or advertisement for this "child placing" agency. This agency has also been on the Department of State's list of agencies that have failed to comply with Russian post placement reports. Hattie A. Hunt was the person from Paralegal On Call who did the homestudy. Pamela G. Page is the owner of the company according to Indiana Secretary of State's website. Ms. Hunt only did the homestudy on the temporary Indianapolis residence which was basically a hotel room. Mr. Melinger's home in New Jersey was never visited or studied.
On April 13, 2005 Mr. Melinger filed a petiton to adopt the twins who he has named after the surrogate mother. Their names are Kathy Zee and Karen Zaria which is ironic. The trial court did not approve the adoption where as the Indiana Court of Appeals did. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 5-0 against the adoption. It has been remanded back to the trial court for further evaluations. This adoption must comply with Indiana ICPC law which states that the homestudy must comply with the mother's state of record (which could be California for the eggs or South Carolina for the mother) along with a valid homestudy out of New Jersey. Since Mr. Melinger was also a resident with New Jersey, not Indiana as he originally claimed. He must have New Jersey's Department of Child Welfare inspect his home and do a homestudy. The Indiana Supreme Court has given him a temporary custody order until this issue is resolved.
Posted by Amy Adoptee at 4/8/2009 10:59 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Indiana adoption adoptive father adoptee rights adoptees surrogacy
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Indiana adoption adoptive father adoptee rights adoptees surrogacy
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