Fathers Rights On Adoption?

Question

I am with a man that had a child when he was 19 years old. The mother put the baby up for adoption and he was in jail when it happened so he didnt get to sign the birth certificate or anything. His father has ahold of the birth certificate so he can sign it. Being in jail when it comes to adoption does the father lose rights even though he didnt actually sign them over?

Answer 1

This sounds strange to me,  as an adoptive parent and a former foster mother for an adoption agency this contradicts all I know.  Before a baby is place up for adoption a mother must sign away her rights, she is asked names of all possible fathers and a diligent search is done on all listed. I know for a fact that the agency I use went to jails, mailed letters overseas and even posted ads in papers all over the country trying to find birth fathers.  It is a flawed system, but the mother has to be honest for all perspective father's rights to be respected.

Answer 2

He does have rights, but his he being completley honest with you? not to soun harsh, buteven if he didnt sign the birth certificate, angencys always cover every angle, so he very well could have signed a waiver.  That means no! he wouldnt have rights.  If he didnt then somthings not right.  DNA is another factor, but is the child in a good home? too many moves for a child who already has healthy attachment can cause long term trauma. And not to sound harsh yet again but you say he was in jail? where would the child go if he goes back to jail? thats not healthy, thats why children dont have healthy relationships, too many people coming and going.  Look deeper into it, there must have been a good reason for the adoption, but yet I could be wrong. May god bless you in your journey.

Answer 3

Signing or not signing the birth certificate makes no difference when it comes to the father's rights in adoption. He has just as many rights as the birth mother. However, if the birth mother didn't know where he was, or if they did the postings in the paper and due diligence to find him at the time of the adoption, his rights are terminated after a set amount of time.

That being said, if she knew he was in jail, then he can over turn or halt an adoption. Being in jail does not automatically revoke your rights as a parent.

Answer 4

If they were not married when she had the baby then the only way for him to have any rights over the baby would have been to sign the birth certificate.  Since he didn't do that, he didn't have any rights at the time of the adoption.

If the baby was put into the foster care system, he may be able to get a DNA test and get the baby out of state custody because the state would generally perfer to place a child with a biological parent than leave them with the state.  However, if the child was privately adopted, he would not be able to get the child back because the people that adopted them were granted full and legal guardianship and custody upon adoption.

Good luck.

Answer 5

no he did not lose his rights. he would be smart to get lawyer and go after the mother. she has no right to do what she did. she can't do this legally. take care.

Answer 6

Is he listed as the father on the birth certificate?

If not, then that's why he wasn't allowed to sign it in jail.

They have to do DNA testing on the named birth father to verify that he is the biological dad, so that he is then offered "services" to get his act straight should he want to attempt to gain custody of the child.

It sounds to me like the mother named another man or said the father was unknown, but if his father has a birth certificate, then the state (presuming this is who she adopted the baby through) should have had the copy, too, and have taken the steps required to identify the father and terminate his rights or offer him a case plan.

Unless she adopted through a private agency, my experience as a foster to adopt parent...his story doesn't add up.  

Is there a way you can share a little bit more info?

Answer 7

How long ago was this.  There are several fathers right now fighting for their children because of the exact same thing

If this is recent did he get his name down on the putative father registry, if your State has one.

If this is ancient history and the child is now an adult they can be reunited - Please give a few more details so I know how best to help

Answer 8

Tell your boyfriend to forget about this whole thing. He should not try to disrupt the life of this child! Your boyfriend was in JAIL and could not take care of the baby anyway.

Let this DROP! Do not disrupt many lives with this!!!!

Answer 9

since he was never on the birth certificate anyway, he has no rights to the child in the first place. about the only thing he can do is put his name out on all the search sites and hope that the child comes looking for him one day.

Answer 10

He will have to file with the courts to fight for his kid.