Man reunites with his daughter after estranged wife put her up for adoption without his knowledge
Sgt. Terry Achane and his daughter
News Posted by Maria Lloyd
Army Drill Sergeant Terry Achane spent nearly two years fighting for his daughter who was put up for adoption without his knowledge while he was stationed in another state. ”I’m just happy right now. I’m with my daughter,” Sgt. Terry Achane said. “It’s about time.”
Although the adoptive parents fought to keep the child, a Utah Supreme Court ruled in Achane’s favor. “This is the first known case where the Utah State Supreme Court has removed a child from an [adoptive parent’s] home and returned the child to the … legal father,” said Achane’s lawyer Mark Wiser. Wise reveres the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “huge victory” for “equal parental right,” meaning a parent can’t put a child up for adoption without the other parent’s permission. ”Terry Achane believes that justice is finally taking place,” Wiser said, adding that his client remains “heartbroken that he has missed 22 months of his daughter’s life because of what happened. This is time that he and his daughter can never replace.”
Sgt. Achane, 31, was stationed in South Carolina on March 21, 2011, when his daughter was born. His estranged wife, Tira Bland, turned the baby over for adoption two days later without Sgt. Achane’s consent nor knowledge. Sgt. Achane initially believed Bland had followed through on a threat to abort the baby, but several weeks after the baby was born, he learned she was adopted in Utah.
When he contacted the adoption agency that facilitated the baby’s placement, he was denied information and ignored when he informed them that he had not consented to the adoption, according to his attorney. The child’s adopted parents, Jared and Krist Frei, have maintained a blog about the case and claim that Sgt. Achane “left [Bland] without any money, a car, or details of his whereabouts. Needing to act quickly for the best interest of her unborn child, and with in-credible faith, fortitude, and courage, she put her child up for adoption.”
