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Text File | 1993-04-08 | 2KB | 39 lines

                                                                                THE WEEK, Page 22

SOCIETY

A Child Asserts His Legal Rights


Gregory Kingsley wins a new family and a new name -- and makes
history


    An ordinary boy has won an extraordinary victory. After two
days of emotionally charged -- and televised -- testimony,
Florida Circuit Judge Thomas S. Kirk granted Gregory Kingsley,
12, his dearest wish: to be "divorced" from his natural parents
and adopted by George and Lizabeth Russ, the foster family he has
come to love.

    Gregory's plight attracted national attention and even
reached the podium of the G.O.P. convention, where conservative
Pat Buchanan cited the case in his attack on Hillary Clinton,
implying Gregory's lawsuit was an assault on the American family
and could unleash a flood of frivolous litigation by willful
children against their parents. Finally, after a parade of
witnesses attested to his mother's less than perfect parenting,
it was Gregory's small clear voice declaring "I'm doing it for
me, so I can be happy" that resonated in the courtroom. In the
past eight years, the child had spent just seven months with
his mother. While a weeping Rachel Kingsley listened, he
recalled how she often came home drunk and kept a stash of
marijuana "in a brown box on a table in the living room." At the
end, the courtroom broke into applause as Judge Kirk announced,
"Gregory, you're the son of Mr. and Mrs. Russ at this moment."
Then the boy's lawyer presented him with a blue jersey bearing
his new name, Shawn Russ, and the number 9. He will be the
Russ's ninth child.