It’s no secret that many children would be healthier and happier with adoptive parents than with the parents that nature dealt them. That’s especially true of children who remain in abusive homes because the law blindly favors biological parents. It’s also true of children who suffer for years in foster homes because of parents who can’t or won’t care for them but refuse to give up custody rights.
众所周知，许多孩子在养父母身边会比在亲生父母身边更健康、更快乐。对于那些因为法律盲目偏袒亲生父母而留在虐待家庭的孩子来说尤其如此。孩子们在亲生父母家庭中受苦多年，因为父母不能或不愿照顾他们，但拒绝放弃监护权。
Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Mays fits neither description, but her recent court victory could eventually help children who do. Kimberly has been the object of an angry custody baffle between the man who raised her and her biological parents, with whom she has never lived. A Florida judge ruled that the teenager can remain with the only father she’s ever known and that her biological parents have “no legal claim” on her.
14岁的金伯利·梅斯不符合这两种描述，但她最近在法庭上的胜利最终可能会帮助那些这样做的孩子。抚养她的男人和她的亲生父母之间一直存在着令人气愤的监护权纠纷，而她从未与亲生父母住在一起。佛罗里达州的一名法官裁定，她可以与她所认识的唯一父亲住在一起，她的亲生父母对她“没有法律要求”。
The ruling, though it may yet be reversed, sets aside the principle that biology is the primary determinant of parentage. That’s an important development, one that’s long overdue.
尽管这一裁决可能会被推翻，但它搁置了生物学是父母关系的主要决定因素这一原则。这是一个重要的发展，一个早就应该的发展。
Shortly after birth in December 1978, Kimberly Mays and another infant were mistakenly switched and sent home with the wrong parents. Kimberly’s biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, received a child who died of a heart disease in 1988. Medical tests showed that the child wasn’t the Twiggs’ own daughter, but Kimt only was, thus sparking a custody battle with Robert Mays. In 1989, the two families agreed that Mr. Mays would maintain custody with the Twiggs getting visiting fights. Those rights were ended when Mr. Mays decided that Kimberly was being harmed.
1978年12月出生后不久，金伯利·梅斯和另一名婴儿被错误地调换了位置，并被错误的父母送回家。金伯利的亲生父母欧内斯特·特威格和里贾娜·特威格于1988年收养了一个死于心脏病的孩子。医学测试表明，这个孩子不是特威格夫妇的亲生女儿，但金伯利是，因此引发了与罗伯特·梅斯的监护权之争。1989年，两个家庭同意，梅斯先生保留监护权，特威格一家可以探视。当梅斯先生认为金伯利受到伤害时，这些权利就终止了。
The decision to leave Kimberly with Mr. Mays rendered her suit debated. But the judge made clear that Kimberly did have standing to sue on her own behalf. Thus he made clear that she was more than just property to be handled as adults saw fit.
将金伯利留给梅斯的决定使她的诉讼备受争议。但法官明确表示，金伯利有资格代表她自己进行诉讼。因此，他明确表示，她不仅仅是成年人认为合适的财产。
Certainly, the biological link between parent and child is fundamental. But biological parents aren’t always preferable to adoptive ones, and biological parentage does not convey an absolute ownership that cancels all the rights of children.
当然，父母和孩子之间的生物学联系是至关重要的。但亲生父母并不总是比养父母更可取，而且亲生父母并不能传达出取消孩子所有权利的绝对所有权。
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