[PapaNew]

Why didn’t the foster parents adopt the child? Would have prevented this.

[DannyTN]

Cases like this make me glad I’m not a judge.

[babygene]

“after McCaul pleaded guilty to transporting firearms”

Well, that certainly proves he would be a crappy father... /s

[Graewoulf]

According to those who study this stuff, one forms their basic schema of the World at age 10.

It is to bad that this judge did not consider this hypothesis.

[Pollster1]

The family adopted her in 2008, but a Tennessee appeals court overturned that after McCaul was released from prison . . . In 2009, McCaul won an appeal claiming he did not voluntarily give up his rights and the court did not follow due process in the adoption proceedings.

This did not come out of the blue, in fact it was a year after the improper adoption, and the foster/adoptive parents had time to make this possibility easier for the girl. I'd need to know the details before I could be sure, but I'm not impressed with the foster/adoptive parents. The firearms charge doesn't bother me at all, and there is no clear evidence that he had not turned his life around. It's his daughter, and if the decision were in my hands I'd probably make that the deciding factor.

[trisham]

The poor child.

[Chickensoup]

the child did not belong to the foster parents. Stupid to think a child that is not legally free “belongs” to you.