SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – A Virginia dad is in Utah hoping the legal system will allow him to bring his daughter back home.
Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court will be asked to decide whether Baby Emma was legally adopted by a Salt Lake City couple or if she was kidnapped.
“She was born on February 10th 2009," said John Wyatt. "(She was) eight pounds, six point eight ounces 21 inches long."
But Wyatt has never held Baby Emma in his arms. She was given up for adoption by her birth mother without his consent.
“It angers me that someone who knows what it's like to not have a child would do that to someone else who has a child and wants a child and have complete disregard for me knowing I wanted my child the whole time,” he said.
A Virginia judge gave Wyatt custody of Baby Emma, but a Utah judge gave the adoptive parents custody.
And now Wyatt along with his mother is in Utah to hear legal arguments before the Supreme Court.
Baby Emma lives with her adoptive parents in Salt Lake City. Her parents want to remain out of the public spotlight. But in a prepared statement they say Baby Emma was not kidnapped as the Wyatt's claim.
"This cannot be further from the truth. The adoptive parents worked in unison with the birth mother and her family to satisfy her wishes to place the child with a loving and stable family. The birth mother made the difficult and courageous choice to place the child with the adoptive parents because she believed that the child deserved a loving, stable, two-parent home.
Both the adoptive parents and the adoption agency believe it would be extremely detrimental to remove the child from the loving and stable home she has enjoyed for 19 months. Their primary concern has and always will be (in) the best interest of the child.”
