GABRIEL KING - 4 months (4/14) - / Charged: Father, Drew James Weehler-Smith - Des Moines, IO

Birth mom of dead baby boy tells her side of adoption controversy 
Four-month-old Gabriel died Tuesday after his 17-year-old father left him alone. His Iowa birth mother, 16-year-old Markeya Atkins, only had custody for a few weeks after demanding him back from his adoptive mothers in March.


NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, April 26, 2014, 12:43 PM



WHO-HD Markeya Atkins, the teen mother of baby boy who allegedly died 'through his father's neglect' after adoptive moms were forced to give him back, explains that she took him back because she feared being cut out of his life completely.

Three Iowa moms are grieving the death of a baby boy this week, and the infant's birth mother is now explaining her side of the story.

Markeya Atkins, 16, said she wanted to take custody of her son, Gabriel, 10 weeks after she had put him up for adoption because she feared the boy's adoptive mothers wanted to completely cut her out of the baby's life, she told the Des Moines Register.

Baby Gabriel was found dead in a Des Moines apartment Tuesday, just weeks after Atkins took the baby back from Rachel and Heidi McFarland, who adopted the boy immediately after his birth.

Police charged Gabriel's father, 17-year-old Drew James Weehler-Smith, with neglect after he left the 4-month-old baby alone.

WHO-HD Gabriel, the baby boy at the center of the story, died while in his biological father’s care.

Atkins and the McFarlands originally agreed to the adoption when Atkins was pregnant. The couple paid the teen's medical bills and legal fees and even coached her through labor.

Gabriel was born on Dec. 28, and the McFarlands took him home from the hospital. He lived with the couple until March 13, when Atkins demanded her baby boy back.

The McFarlands were schedule to get custody on March 24.

The adoptive moms, Rachel (right) and Heidi McFarland (left), said they hope to find legal ways to ensure that this situation doesn’t happen to other adoptive parents in the future.

But after the baby was born, Atkins said her relationship changed with the couple. She said the adoptive mothers became distant, and the teen mom worried that she'd be totally removed from Gabriel's life.

"It's like after I gave the baby to them, they didn't care," she told the Des Moines Register.

The McFarlands also felt like their relationship with Atkins had fallen apart. They became suspicious that the biological family had used them for financial support during Atkin's pregnancy.



In most places, adoptive parents are granted custody 72 hours after the baby is born, but in Iowa, birth parents have four days to change their minds.

The McFarlands said Atkins was able to take back custody of Gabriel months after he was born because their lawyer didn't file paperwork terminating Atkins's parental rights, which is the first step in any adoption, Des Moines' WHO reported.

The McFarlands said Gabriel would still be alive if he was in their care.

"This is what has happened to me and Heidi — our world has been turned upside down," Rachel McFarland told the TV station. "The baby was taken away from us, and now he's died and we have nothing left. There`s nothing."

The McFarlands believe Gabriel would still be alive if he had been in their care. They said they’re looking into what kind of laws could have prevented this, and they want to make sure this situation doesn’t happen to other adoptive parents.






http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/birth-mom-dead-baby-boy-tells-side-adoption-fight-article-1.1769958#ixzz30trZz1gw