For Baby Richard, the only issue that may matter is when his biological father knew he was a father: Illinois requires a father to demonstrate an “interest” within the first 30 days of a child’s birth. Richard’s father, Otakar (Oto) Kirchner, didn’t start legal action for 80 days. “I was living under the impression the baby was dead,” Kirchner says. The case is riddled with such deceptions. Early in 1991, when Daniela was eight months pregnant and not yet married, Oto left her and went to Czechoslovakia to tend to his critically ill grandmother. Oto, 38, a deli-and-liquor-store manager, says that while he was away a relative told Daniela that he’d run off with an old girl friend. Devastated, Daniela, a 27-year-old beautician, fled to a shelter. When Oto returned two weeks later he couldn’t find her.
By then Daniela had decided to give up her rights to the child. When Baby Richard was born on March 16,1991, she refused to contact Oto or reveal his name to the adoptive family. Oto says he tried to find out whether his son was dead-he claims he was told that the hospital kept the corpse for “medical research” but, in the end, he couldn’t find a trace. Then, on Mother’s Day, Daniela told him the truth; the next week, Oto hired a lawyer to challenge the adoption. That September, Oto and Daniela married. But some question Oto’s motives. “The father showed no interest in the child until the mother re-established her relationship with the father,” says Patrick Murphy, the Cook County (Ill.) public guardian. Two lower courts agreed that Oto had abandoned his rights. But the Illinois Supreme Court excoriated the adoptive parents for going ahead “when they knew that a real father was out there.”
For now, Baby Richard knows nothing of the furor. Unlike Baby Jessica’s would-be adoptive parents, who tried, unsuccessfully, to use public sentiment to pressure the courts, Baby Richard’s adoptive parents refuse to be identified. About all that is known is that he’s a firefighter, she’s a paralegal and they also have an 8-year-old biological son. Their lawyer, Richard Lifshitz, says Oto has made no attempt to contact the boy or to expedite the legal wrangling. That may not matter. Two Illinois state legislators are preparing bills to keep such cases from dragging on for years. And late this month a national commission will debate a proposal to unify the patchwork of state adoption laws. But unless the Illinois court reconsiders or the U. S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, change may come years too late for Baby Richard.
