September 2, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

Yesterday I posted a piece on the case of Caroline Stearns vs. Adoption by Gentle Care and, not entirely by coincidence, the Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the matter the same day. Now, as I prepared Thursday’s post, I wondered why the highest court in the state would hear such a case. After all, the only real issue was whether Ms. Stearns had given up her son for adoption of her own free will or under duress. (Of course her lawyer attempted to claim, apparently for the first time on appeal, that the adoption agency’s social worker in some way acted as a fiduciary for Ms. Stearns. I called that a “non-starter” and oral argument on the “issue” obviously backs me up.)

September 1, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

The case of Caroline Stearns vs. Adoption by Gentle Care raises one important issue and it’s not one the courts will decide or even address.

Stearns is a 40-year-old Ohio mother of five. Back in 2013, she had a brief affair with a man she’d known for 10 years, Steve Lump, and became pregnant. Her boyfriend, Jeff Griffiths was none too pleased to learn that she was pregnant by another man and so he encouraged her to place the child for adoption. Stearns did that with the assistance of an Ohio adoption agency, Adoption by Gentle Care.

August 31, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

To those familiar with the economic concept (i.e. supply and demand) of male/female relationships, this information will come as no surprise (Science Daily, 8/24/16). To those in thrall to the radical feminist notion that men are per se dangerous and the fewer of them the better, it will come as quite a shock.

Years ago, Professor Roy Baumeister of Florida State University put forward the idea that men and women’s mating behavior has a lot to do with supply and demand. That is, males will behave differently when there are comparatively many females than they will when there are comparatively few. The linked-to article reports on studies by two researchers at the University of Utah whose findings dramatically corroborate Baumeister’s theory. Anthropologists Ryan Schacht and Karen Kramer first studied communities in Guyana that had, for one reason or another, an imbalance of men and women.

August 29, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

I haven’t read the book this article is about, but it’s on order. It looks too valuable to ignore. The book is by Baltimore Law School Professor Daniel Hatcher and it’s entitled “The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America’s Most Vulnerable Citizens.” This article is just a short interview with Hatcher, but it has enough in it to catch my eye (The Atlantic, 6/22/16).

August 28, 2016 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

I posted this piece last Monday. It was about a thoroughly scurrilous op-ed by the president of the Iowa State Bar Association, one Skip Kenyon. Since the murder of a two-year-old boy, Mason Wycoff, the movement in the Hawkeye State in favor of shared parenting has gained momentum. That’s partly because Mason’s dad, Dillon Wycoff has gone public with his efforts to gain custody of Mason due to the risk posed by the child’s mother. Stephenie Erickson eventually murdered Mason and committed suicide. Dillon was unable to get the attention of anyone who could have helped save Mason’s life, so he’s arguing for shared parenting and more respect for fathers by family courts.