This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As a person who was adopted, I read with rapt interest "Utah adoption law: model for nation or unjust burden?" (Tribune Dec. 26)
Marriage is a covenant between four entities: the man, the woman, the culture in which they live, and children, who have a vested interest in strong marriages with parents of both genders. If a man is not married to the biological mother of his child and is not on hand at the birth to lay claim to the child the very day, the very hour of the birth, he should not wear the title "father."
The Utah Legislature needs to address three other serious issues in Utah adoption laws:
1. Put a strict limit on the fees attorneys can charge to arrange the legal details of an adoption. In 1957, the fees my father paid the attorney totaled less than $90.
2. Put a strict limit on what adoption agencies can charge to arrange adoptions. The fee my friend had to pay for his latest adoption could have bought him a cottage in certain parts of Utah.
3. Require adoption agencies to provide the prospective parents with an itemized list of the fees.
Rick Soulier
Provo