Dad loses battle over adoption

LINCOLN (AP) -- Six years after his son's birth, a Nebraska man is out of legal options in his fight for custody and lost his pursuit of compensation over the way the boy was taken, according to a state Supreme Court ruling Friday.

Matthew Ashby of Meadow Grove had alleged that a state welfare worker allowed the newborn to be taken for adoption by an Alabama couple without his permission. But the Nebraska Supreme Court refused to reinstate Ashby's lawsuit against his former fiancee, the welfare worker, the boy's adoptive parents and a law firm involved in the case.

Ashby had accused his former fiancee, Monica Kilmer, of conspiring with Douglas and Tammy Black of Montgomery, Ala., and others to deprive him of his parental rights.

The high court upheld an earlier ruling in favor of the adoptive parents and other defendants.

Ashby's lawyer, Herb Friedman, said the ruling was disappointing.

"We tried the best we could for Mr. Ashby," Friedman said.

Attorney Susan Sapp, who represents the Blacks and Kilmer, said Friday's ruling brings a welcome end to the long legal fight.

"We're pleased with the outcome," Sapp said.

Ashby has no more legal options to regain custody of his son because the Supreme Court ruling said he relinquished his parental rights last year as part of a settlement in another case in Alabama.

The lawsuit the court ruled on Friday was about monetary damages, not custody.

Ashby tried to assert his parental rights after his son's birth in January 2004, but never gained custody of him. The Supreme Court said Ashby couldn't legally argue that the Blacks interfered with his parental rights because he didn't have custody at the time that the Blacks took his son to Alabama.

Friedman said he believes Ashby has made arrangements with the Blacks to have some contact with his son, but didn't know the details.

According to court documents, Ashby and Kilmer were engaged and living together when she became pregnant in 2003. Two days before the wedding, Kilmer broke off the engagement at the insistence of her parents. Kilmer decided she did not want to keep the baby, so Ashby then told her he planned to file for custody.

But Kilmer refused to communicate with Ashby during her pregnancy or tell him when the child was born Jan. 21, 2004, according to the lawsuits.

Kilmer's attorney was required by law to give Ashby written notice of Kilmer's plan to put the baby up for adoption. Although that letter was dated Jan. 8, 2004, Ashby says he did not get it until Jan. 28, 2004, and it wasn't sent by registered mail. Kilmer's lawyer also published a notice in the Norfolk Daily News advising Ashby that he had until Feb. 12 to claim paternity of his son.

Ashby alleged that Mary Dyer, a state adoption specialist, failed to check or ignored records when she gave permission to the Blacks to take the child to Alabama on Jan. 29, 2004.

Ashby filed his paternity claim Jan. 30, 2004.

The Supreme Court said nothing in Nebraska law or the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children required the state to make sure Ashby had consented before allowing the Blacks to take the boy. The compact regulates adoptions between states.

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