JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled for a woman who says her son was adopted against her will while she was in prison.
The court did not return the boy to Encarnacion Bail Romero but remanded the case to a lower court for retrial Tuesday, saying the state improperly terminated her parental rights, CNN reported.
"The trial court plainly erred by entering judgment on the adoption petition and terminating Mother's parental rights without complying with the investigation and reporting requirements," Judge Patricia Breckenridge wrote.
Bail Romero, a Guatemalan, was arrested in an immigration sting in 2007, six months after her son was born. She was jailed as an illegal immigrant who used a stolen Social Security number to get work.
Her family took care of the baby, attorneys said, but eventually went to a couple who offered baby-sitting. When they asked to adopt the boy, Bail Romero refused.
The couple introduced the boy to Seth and Melinda Moser, who took him in and eventually filed for adoption.
Bail Romero, in prison at the time, did not object to the Mosers' custody, their lawyer said. She said she did not understand the situation and never approved an adoption.
