Close Up: Adoption Heartbreak: Attorney Susan Pniewski Discusses the Custody Battle Over Evan Scott

 

In live in-studio interview with Matt Lauer, Susan Pniewski, the attorney for Dawn and Gene Scott, discusses the custody battle over Evan. The three-year-old is now at his new home in Illinois with his biological mother after an emotional handover in Florida on Saturday. The courts ordered Evan back to his birth mother taking him away from Dawn and Gene Scott who desperately want to adopt him after raising him since his birth. Pniewski notes the emergency appeal she filed has not been denied, it just has not been ruled upon yet. She likens the Scotts' ordeal to the death of the child, "only you knew that it was coming. And even though you know it's coming, it's still a horrible shock." She says it was the Scotts decision to tape Evan's final hours with them as a way of preserving as much of a record as they can for the child, so if, in fact, he has questions as he reaches adulthood, that he can know what happened. They don't want him to think that he was abandoned. Lauer asks her about a possible backlash to the videotape. Pniewski remarks "there is little worse that the courts can do to Evan." The attorney notes the court has made no provision for any type of contact subsequent to Saturday and admits the court doesn't even recognize the Scotts as any party to any custody battle, noting they have been completely dismissed "as if they are nobody." Pniewski says she hopes the birth mother would allow Evan contact with the Scotts. She feels that at the age of three and a half, almost four years old, Evan can't be transitioned into another family without some severe emotional issues. She notes her legal side says they are nearing the end of the road, but her heart just can't accept that.