Lionel Bissoon, Libet Johnson and their adopted son William.By Trina Darling
The National Examiner
NY’s top court recently overturned the adoption of a 7 year old Cambodian orphan. Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth “Libet” Johnson and her former lover, Dr. Lionel Bissoon, a former weight loss guru.
Johnson and Bissoon rescued the child as an infant, and brought him to New York for the heart surgery that he needed, intending to adopt him and raise him together. Unable to adopt him in the US because of a moratorium on Cambodian adoptions, Johnson & Bissoon sought to adopt the child through the Cambodian government in 2004. In 2005, after Johnson and Bissoon had ended their relationship, Johnson sought to adopt the child in New York, without telling Bissoon. Bissoon then sought to have the adoption overturned, and was able to satisfy the NY Court that he had adopted the child in 2004, claiming that this was “adoption by stealth”. The court apparently agreed with him.
The child still lives with Johnson in her multi-millions $$ tri-plex at the Trump Towers. It is unclear what actions Bissoon will take regarding visitation of the child, or custody.
I completed my daughters’ adoptions through Fulton County Family Court, and they assured themselves that all of the paperwork was in order before the adoption was complete (from beginning to end, it took almost six months; my daughter was born in March, and her adoption was finalized in September), and both birth parents had the opportunity to contest it. Fulton County also requires that every adoptive parent finalizing an adoption in Fulton County has to take the foster parenting/adoption course, which was called MAPP training, as well as completing a home study. The home study was done for free by a social worker from Fulton County Department of Social Services.
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