State child-welfare administrators have appealed the adoption of an infant foster child by a gay Hollywood woman — the second challenge to Florida's gay-adoption law currently under review.
Joe Follick, a spokesman for the Department of Children & Families, said his agency appealed the decision last month by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia to approve Vanessa Alenier's adoption of a relative taken into foster care shortly after his birth.
"Until there is a unified appellate court decision on this issue, we are bound by Florida statute to defend and adhere to the law," Follick said.
An earlier adoption by a gay father from North Miami is pending before the Third District of Appeal in Miami. A decision is expected soon.
Alenier's attorney, Alan Mishael, who has handled two of the state's three successful adoptions by gay people, blasted the state for fighting the adoption.
"Instead of leaving this family alone, DCF wants to break it up and is spending taxpayer dollars trying to do so," Mishael said.