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Court rejects local adoption Biological father sued agency By Chris Bristol SALEM � The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned the adoption of a 3-year-old Ashland girl whose biological father was convicted of statutory rape, saying the man was defrauded of his custody rights by an adoption agency and the girl�s adoptive parents. Alexandra Rose has never met her biological father, Carl O. Gruett Jr., but neither that fact nor his rape conviction (for impregnating his girlfriend, Alexandra�s birth mother, when he was 23 and she was 15) entered into the decision. Instead, a three-judge appeals panel ruled that PLAN International Adoption Services illegally went ahead with the adoption over Gruett�s last-second objections and that adoptive parents David and Elizabeth Dunn knew about it and illegally benefited from it. "We conclude PLAN�s fraudulent conduct was carried out on behalf of the adoptive parents and is attributable to them," the ruling said. The court overturned the adoption, which was approved by Jackson County Judge Phil Arnold in 1998. The court sent the case back to Medford for "remaining custody and support issues" raised by Gruett, who is now 26 and lives in Scio, near Albany. The Dunns� attorney, James Wallan, said his clients have several avenues of appeal themselves � including the Oregon Supreme Court � and are not in imminent danger of losing custody of the child. They have had the child since the day after she was born, in September 1997. "We haven�t conceded anything at this point," Wallan said Monday. "We�re looking at all of our options." At the heart of the case is whether PLAN counselors had a legal or moral obligation to notify Gruett that his former girlfriend was going to put her baby up for adoption, and whether he was notified in time to block it. The Dunns have argued there is no such requirement and that PLAN needlessly jeopardized the adoption by notifying Gruett at the last second. They sued PLAN last year for negligence but temporarily dropped the suit until Gruett�s challenge is resolved for good. According to court records, in 1997 Gruett was convicted of third-degree rape (the equivalent under Oregon law of statutory rape) for impregnating Jaysa Nesbit, then 15, who considered having an abortion and then decided to put the baby up for adoption. Gruett knew she was pregnant but took no steps to assert paternity before she gave birth, as required by Oregon law. Just before the birth, PLAN notified him he had 14 days to object to the adoption. But before the 14 days were up, the baby was born. The Dunns took custody of her the next day. In the aftermath, Gruett sued PLAN for civil fraud and tried to stop the adoption. A Linn County judge ruled in his favor, saying the adoption agency violated Gruett�s rights, but the case was transferred midstream to Jackson County. In his ruling, Arnold agreed that PLAN violated Gruett�s rights. But he approved the adoption anyway, saying the adoptive parents did nothing wrong and that it met the primary legal test of being in the child�s best interests. The appeals court disagreed with Arnold�s analysis and ruled that even though PLAN misled the Dunns, they still had knowledge of the "situation" and are prohibited from benefiting from PLAN�s conduct. In a related development, court records indicate a Linn County judge found Gruett guilty last year of a misdemeanor � failure to register as a sex offender � and sentenced to 48 hours in jail. Also, the state sued Gruett last year for child support. Details were not available, but Marion County court records indicate Gruett has had another child with another woman and was sued for paternity and support. Gruett�s attorney, Brian Buchanan of Salem, could not be reached for comment Monday. The court�s decision is available online at: www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A103925.htm Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.