Does anyone know the rights of a parent if they relinguishing there rights.?

Question

I have a friend that had a set of twins 5 yrs old girls last year right after Christmas they were taken away and put into foster care. She has had visitation of her child throughout this time. 3 months back the state said the twins were being put up for adoption. If the mother religuished her rights she could choose who would adopt them and have the right for it to be an open adoption. She did and the family decided after transitioning the children they could not take them. She signed the papers because she knew the people who were adopting them she would of continued to fight if it wasnt this family. This mother does not drink do drugs and has never hit her kids. She deals with mental illness. Can anybody direct me to a sight that may help with her rights.

Answer 1

It really depends on the state you are in.  I am sure your friend is torn and the best thing to do would be to have her talk with a family lawyer.  She really needs someone that can guide her and knows the laws for the state you live in.  

Here if you relinquish you give up all rights.  You have no say in where the kids go and cannot try to contact them until the are over 18.  You also loose the right to know who adopts the child.  The state handles everything.

Answer 2

If they are in foster care and her rights were terminated by the court there is little she can do in picking a family for them to go to at this point. If she were working with an agency, yes, she would probably have more say in who she wanted the children placed with. In independent private adoption she would have say before terminating rights as to who she wanted the children to be parented by and go to.

Since her rights have been terminated she doesn't have any rights in the say so of her children or in making choices for them any longer.

Answer 3

She should get an advocate/lawyer that deals with mental illness issues and parental rights.

Answer 4

Try a mental health advocate in her state. They usually have access to legal help for the mentally ill.

Answer 5

It seems odd to me. The State told the mother the children were being put up for adoption before she even relinquished her rights? That seems to me like they would have terminated her rights had she not willing given them up.  

Who has the children now? I’m just asking because that’s quite a transition for the kids to be placed in foster care be there for nearly a year, be placed with an adoptive family it doesn’t work out, then placed with another adoptive family.  Now their birthmother wants to remove them from this adopted family just because she didn’t pick them. These poor children need some stability and routine in their lives.

She needs to get some legal counseling see what she can do if anything.

Answer 6

Try  https://www.antiadoption.org

        https://www.adoptioncrossroads.org

Answer 7

The unfortunate thing is, that legally, this friend is no longer considered these children's mother.

While I do not know the circumstances involved that made the family elect disrupt the placement...no one can ever know whether a placement will be good for the children and the adoptive family...and I just hope that every effort was made to keep the placement before deciding not to accept the children.

All of that aside...if her rights are fully terminated, in my state, that invalidates any thought of an appeal.  Here, you can only fight the termination of the parental rights...not of the adoption of the children...and she's lucky (again, considering my state only), that she even got to choose the prospective family.

In my state, if the children come into foster care with an adoption plan, that means the birth family could not care for the children and are not considered a "sound" source of who would be best to parent their children...that's what private agencies are for.

My heart aches for all of you, I wish you all luck.

Answer 8

Laws vary from state to state. She needs to see a lawyer who specializes in family and adoption law.

Answer 9

the lawyer overseeing the adoption is the best source of legal info.  ASK.

Answer 10

The state does not allow for open adoptions, or the selection of adoptive parents.  (But a private agency does.)  So this is a little confusing.  But, in any case, Advocacy Incorporated deals with the rights of the mentally ill, and may be able to help.  But once the birth parents rights have been terminated, it is not possible for those rights to be reinstated.  It is permanent, unless there was an intentional act of fraud, duress, or overreaching.  In that case, a judge might consider hearing the case.