Affidavit of Kimberly C. and Russ C.



IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
NASHVILLE DIVISION

PROMISE DOE, KIMBERLY C. and RUSS C., and SMALL WORLD MINISTRIES, INC. )
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JUDGE NIXON
DONALD SUNDQUIST, Governor of the State of Tennessee, in his official capacity; CHARLES
BURSON, Attorney General of the State of Tennessee, in his official capacity; and LINDA RUDOLPH, in her official capacity as the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services for the State of Tennessee,		 )
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VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE AND DECLARATORY RELIEF

COME NOW, KIMBERLY C. and RUSS C. and being first duly sworn, do hereby depose and state as follows:

1. We are citizens and residents of the State of Tennessee and do make this affidavit based on our own personal knowledge.

2. We are adoptive parents of two children, James C., age five years, and Zackary Lee C., age 15 months.

3. We have been married ten years, and have been unable to bear children. In December of 1990 I, KIMBERLY C. underwent a complete hysterectomy.

4. In the last three years, we have undergone two independent homestudies by two different private adoption agencies: Mid-Cumberland Children's Service and Small World Ministries, Inc.

5. As a part of our application to these. two agencies to be considered for child placement we were required to disclose very personal and private information, included among these disclosures were the following types of information:

a) Psychological information relating to our current or past mental or emotional stability;
b) Financial information about our family's assets, liabilities and any sources of income;
c) Details of our personal lives dating back to our childhood;
d) Information about our parents and family background;
c) Confidential information about our marriage relationship;
d) Medical information and records from Our physicians.

6. At the time we disclosed this information to these adoption agencies we were assured that it would remain confidential, and that our adoption records would remained sealed.

7. Had we known at the time we adopted our most recent child that information about our identity and details of our personal lives could be discovered by Zackary's birth parents, siblings or legal representatives, we would have reconsidered our decision to accept this.

8. Zackary was born two months premature, and weighed only two pounds at birth. We have since nursed this child from near death, and regarded him for all intents and purposes as our own son. However, for the State of Tennessee to now retroactively rescind the protections afforded us when we decided to adopt this child, causes us great concern, and poses a direct threat to our family's privacy.

9. Given the limited amount of information which we have about the. birth parents of this child, we are most concerned about the prospect of Zackary's parents now gaining access to our adoption files.

10. For the reasons stated herein, as well as those contained in the Memorandum of Law filed herein by our attorneys, we respectfully urge this Court to prevent this amendment in the Tennessee adoption law from taking effect on July 1, 1996.

Further affiants saith naught.

We declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in this affidavit is true and correct to the best of our information, knowledge. and belief.

Kimberly C.
Russ C.

© 1996 American Adoption Congress