17-Year-Old Father Charged with Neglect Following Infant's Death // Infant's Adoption Plans Disrupted Last Month

Baby Gabriel Before Returning to Birth Parents

I noticed this story yesterday. A dead 4-month-old baby was found alone at his mother's Des Moines apartment. The child had been left in the care of his 17-year-old father while his mother ran some errands. The father was eventually located by the police and charged with neglect of a dependent person. He most likely faces additional charges pending the results of the autopsy.

Here's the rest of the story. The mother had originally placed the newborn baby in the care of Rachel and Heidi McFarland of Ankeny, IA, and the couple was in the process of adopting the child. The mother changed her mind last month and the child was removed from the lesbian couple's home after roughly three months of caring for him:

Rachel and Heidi McFarland of Ankeny had cared for Gabriel from birth until the middle of March, when his mother took him back.

On Wednesday, the couple were watching the news on TV when they learned Gabriel had died. "It's like he's been taken away from you again," Rachel McFarland said.

The McFarlands have been together for 18 years and married for five. They looked forward after Gabriel's adoption to having a thriving family. "We brought him home from the hospital," Rachel McFarland said. "I cut his umbilical cord."

After that, she said, she spent every waking moment with him until he returned to his birth mother.

"We had to go through our worst possible day with our attorney" when he was taken back, McFarland said. "And then we found out on the news today. … Nobody called or told me."

There are no certainties in life, but you cannot help wondering how different things might have turned out had Gabriel's adoption plans continued as planned.