Follow Up Question: Are Punative Father Registries the equivilant of pre-birth termination of rights?

Question

Most states now have punative father registries. Unless a potential father registers with them, he cannot contest the adoption of his child if the mother signs away her rights. Different states have different time limits on this. Some of them require there to be a waiting period after the child is born, but many require fathers to have been signed up before birth - or else he has no legal rights if the mother relinquishes for adoption.

Now, I whole heartedly believe that people should NOT be going around having casual s*x, and that no father should ever be in the position of not knowing who may or may not be carrying his child. However, there are times when pregnant girlfriends run off, and the father doesn't know where she may have gone. If he doesn't register with the right information in the right state, he could lose his child. Is this not a violation of the spirit of the "no relinquishment before birth" law?

Answer 1

The Putative Father Registries protect adoptive parents first and foremost, but they are of some use to fathers if they follow up with court proceedings.

Only about half of the states have one. Delaware's just started January 1, 2008, but they call it a Paternity Registry and it primarily protect adoptive parents. I got a little laugh out of the laws when I read them; they are a joke from a father's standpoint.

Fathers can still contest adoptions. There are recent rulings of case law that do help fathers and may even cut right through the registries if they get abused. Besides that, the old Eldridge factors seem to get tossed aside by the laws for adoptions (and putative registries), so if it goes to the US supreme court the registries will be destroyed.

Answer 2

It most certainly is a violation of the spirit of "no relinquishment before birth."  It is also a method used by some mothers and even some adoption agencies to circumvent a father's rights.  

Putative father's registries  require a man to sign every time he has a relationship with a woman in which s*x was involved.  By doing so, he is supposed to be protecting his right to a child that may come  of any such relationship.  

Unfortunately, putative father's registries are not particularly publicized, so few men even know about them.  Another issue that has occurred as of late is the mother taking off, without telling the father, to have the child out of state.  If the father didn't sign the putative father's registry in the state in which the child was born, his rights are lost, unless the mother names him as the father on the birth certificate.  There have been a few cases in which women have been counseled by the adoption agency to leave the state without telling the father and have the child in another state.  Therefore, the father ends up with no rights to his child, despite the fact that he has not signed any relinquishment documents.

Men's rights groups are springing up around the country to fight the laws that allow them to lose their children without cause.  These registries are unethical.

Answer 3

Most states DO NOT have these registries and I believe they will eventually be found to be unconstitutional.   It totally disgusts me and I can't believe any moral person would support it.  Tells me that the adoption industry is buying people's votes.  The fact that these all sprung up in Republican legislatures surprises me as well.  Where are their supposed Christian values?

Answer 4

Technically yes they are.  Actually fathers are allowed to sign prebirth relinquishments but mothers are not.  I know many a father whose rights have been violated and they did sign up on the registries in their states.  The mothers have been shipped out by the agencies to other states.  

Shawn McDonald

Cody O'Dea

Joshua Simmerson

Rashad Head

Bryce Carkhuff

Brynden Ayre

Many others are out there fighting as well.

Answer 5

You have been misinformed.

The parental rights of a parent can only be revoked or removed by a Court Order from a Court with appropriate jurisdiction and in accordance with the Court's proper procedures.

Failure of a father to register in one of these registries may possibly be introduced in a court's termination proceeding as evidence of abandonment, but in itself it means nothing.