Adoptive parents win custody of Cree toddler

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A Cree bafrom Alberta will be raised his white adoptive family in B.C., not his natural mother who tried to revoke her consent to the adoption, a B.C. court has ruled.

David Tearoe, 19 months, will live with James and Faye Tearoe, "the only mother and father this child knows," the B.C. Court of Appeal said in a written decision last week.

"Very, very excited and just on top of the world," a relaxed and smiling James Tearoe told a news conference at their home in Victoria after the ruling Aug. 19. "And just praising God."

"We knew that indeed the Lord would rule on our behalf," added a relieved Faye Tearoe.

"We've had this peace all along...But every time we got really down about it, again we just go and pray about it," she said.

The lawyer for Teena Sawan, a 10-year-old member of the Woodland Cree Band near Cadotte Lake, said the decision may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

"I don't know if there's anyone in this world can tell you the best interests of the child," because that's so subjective, said Trudi Brown.

"I don't think there was any evidence at all that this child would not be as well off with Teena Sawan."

The decision reversed an earlier ruling that said the boy had bonded with Sawan in the two months before she consented to the adoption in 1992.

And the lower court judge said the blond, blue-eyed boy, who is one-quarter Cree and who had lived with the Tearoe for 16 months, would be better off with his natural mother to learn about his Native heritage.

He granted custody to Sawan, but Faye Tearoe went into hiding with the child and the couple asked for an appeal. The Tearoes were granted interim custody.

The unanimous appeal decision a panel of three judges, written Justice Proudfoot, ruled that it was in the best interests of the child to remain with the Tearoes because their bond with the boy was stronger than Sawan's.

"The welfare of the child is of paramount concern," she wrote. "This child presently lives in a loving, stable, comfortable environment, with a family that has looked after all his needs for virtually all his life.

"To end that relationship would destroy the family bonds that have been established between the child and the adoptive parents.

"Furthermore, common sense dictates that to disrupt the child from his present environment, and to put him through the uncertainty associated with an attempt to establish a bond with his natural mother, would cause him considerable trauma," she wrote.

Proudfoot added that it is possible that Sawan could provide a loving home for David, but said there was no evidence there remains any bond between the two.

The appeal judges also denied an application the Tearoes' lawyer to introduce fresh evidence in the form of Sawan's medical record, calling it irrelevant to the trial.

David was born on Dec. 3, 1991 to Sawan, unwed and 18. The father, who is white, was never involved.

David remained in hospital until Dec. 13 and was released to Sawan, who placed him in a foster home, where he remained until Jan. 30, 1992, and Sawan visited him two to four times.

About that time, Sawan contacted the Tearoes about a private adoption, and David was released to Sawan on Feb. 1.

On Feb. 4, David was returned to the foster home and Sawan asked the Tearoes

to pick up the child, which they did on Feb. 6 and Sawan signed the consent to adoption forms.

On Feb. 12, Sawan called Alberta Social Services and asked for the child to be returned. She was told under provincial law, the revocation had to be in writing within 10 days of the adoption.

Social Services told the Tearoes that Sawan was attempting to revoke her consent and advised them to wait until they received the revocation in writing.

Sawan called the Tearoes on Feb. 14 to ask them to return David to her. She called Social Services on Feb. 19 to determine if they had received her written revocation. She claimed she sent it, but the department said the letter never arrived.

On May 1, awan wrote a letter to the Tearoes, asking for David to be returned to her.

Sawan started legal action later that fall and June of this year, the court agreed to revoke her consent.