A Child Asserts His Legal Rights

AN ORDINARY BOY HAS WON AN EXTRAORDINARY victory. After two days of emotionally charged — and televised — testimony, Florida Circuit Judge Thomas S. Kirk granted Gregory Kingsley, 12, his dearest wish: to be “divorced” from his natural parents and adopted by George and Lizabeth Russ, the foster family he has come to love.

Gregory’s plight attracted national attention and even reached the podium of the G.O.P. convention, where conservative Pat Buchanan cited the case in his attack on Hillary Clinton, implying Gregory’s lawsuit was an assault on the American family and could unleash a flood of frivolous litigation by willful children against their parents. Finally, after a parade of witnesses attested to his mother’s less than perfect parenting, it was Gregory’s small clear voice declaring “I’m doing it for me, so I can be happy” that resonated in the courtroom. In the past eight years, the child had spent just seven months with his mother. While a weeping Rachel Kingsley listened, he recalled how she often came home drunk and kept a stash of marijuana “in a brown box on a table in the living room.” At the end, the courtroom broke into applause as . Judge Kirk announced, “Gregory, you’re the son of Mr. and Mrs. Russ at this moment.” Then the boy’s lawyer presented him with a blue jersey bearing his new name, Shawn Russ, and the number 9. He will be the Russ’s ninth child.