Biological mother gets custody of young boy

? The woman who raised a 3 1/2-year-old boy at the center of a custody dispute tearfully handed the boy to his biological mother Saturday, then dropped to the ground and repeatedly screamed: “How can they do this to a little boy?”

Evan, bundled in a blue jacket and sucking on a pacifier, was carried outside by Dawn Scott, who along with her husband, Gene, cared for the child for most of his life. The couple had appealed a judge’s ruling transferring custody to the biological mother, Amanda Hopkins.

News crews gathered Saturday morning around the Scotts’ home in anticipation of the meeting, and the child’s biological father and grandfather pushed a television cameraman out of the way during the transfer.

Evan, who could be heard wailing inside the home, appeared calm after he was placed in a car seat in a van driven by Hopkins’ husband, Michael.

Amanda Hopkins scolded photographers taking pictures of the child: “Leave him alone. He’s just a little boy.”

After Evan was whisked away, Dawn Scott dropped to the ground. Gene Scott called it a “very emotional, traumatic situation” and said the couple would continue their legal fight.

“If they truly loved him, they wouldn’t have done this,” he said, tears welled in his eyes.

The Scotts had appealed Friday to Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, asking the court to let them keep the child. But their attorney, Susan Pniewski, said the court never acted.

The case began about 3 1/2 years ago when the childless Scotts met Hopkins, who was pregnant. She agreed to a private adoption, according to court files.

Dawn Scott carries Evan to a waiting van, as his biological mother Amanda Hopkins, right, looks on. Scott, who raised the 3 1/2-year-old boy at the center of a custody dispute, tearfully handed the boy over Saturday in Atlantic Beach, Fla.

The Scotts watched Evan’s birth in May 2001, and he was placed with them two days later.

The adoption was supposed to be final in August 2001. But a month before that, the boy’s biological father, Stephen White, filed a motion demanding custody. The Scotts claimed White should not be able to block the adoption, but a judge disagreed.

Hopkins supported the adoption until it appeared the court might grant White’s request for custody.

Late last month, she was awarded custody and White was given liberal visitation rights.

Amanda Hopkins lives in Illinois with her infant daughter and husband Michael, a member of the U.S. Navy based at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, near Chicago.

Garrett Barket, an attorney for Evan’s biological father, said the biological parents had lunch together after picking up Evan, and the boy was smiling and in a good mood.