How would my friend adopt her neice?

Question

The baby just turned a year old, my friend is almost 19. Her sister died and wanted her to take over custody of the baby. ((The baby was only 9 months old when she passed)) But the dad has to sign over custody first! He says he doesnt want her and has no problem signing her over, but how would we go about that? Do they have to go to court? Of have they just have a notorized document saying he signed off the baby to her aunt? Do they have to do paternaty test to make sure he is the father?

Well pretty much my question is, do they have to go to court for the dad to sign off custody to his ex-sister-in-law?

Answer 1

They need an adoption attorney. In many states, if the parents were not married, DNA testing is done to verify that this man is indeed the biological father of the child whether he was on the birth certificate or not.  A study came out not long ago that, of children born to unmarried women, almost 30% were not fathered by the man the woman claimed as father.   If the DNA test had already been done, then you can skip this step.  You'll still need an adoption attorney to draw up the papers and he will likely have to appear in court.

Some courts require a home study, others do not when the parent is relinquishing the child to a close relative and if the mother indicated in the will that she wanted thesister to take custody.  However, they will check financial records.

Answer 2

Please see an adoption attorney, they know the law and are worth there weight in gold for all the help they give. please dont try and do this on your own, without legal help it could come back and bite you in the rear. good luck

Answer 3

All parties concerned need to contact Social Services. They will connect you with the necessary resources.

Answer 4

We adopted my niece 2 and a half years ago.  To be on the safe side, so the father does not decide later on to uproot the child, get a lawyer. yes it costs but having all  ground covered gives you peace of mind and saves a lot of problems and heartache in the long run. The lawyer will know what is best for you to do.

Answer 5

You have to have an attorney draw up the voluntary Waiver for him to sign.  And if the sister just "wanted" her sister to take over custody of the baby, but did not make a formal provision in her will, then she will have to petition to adopt the child.

An attorney is a must.  Otherwise, this can all be undone anytime the birthfather decides he wants his baby back.  And this does happen.

She may also have to get a Homestudy, depends on the state she lives in.

Attorney, and some money (for the attorney and social worker if a homestudy is needed) .  That's what it will take!

Answer 6

The only way to make sure that everything is legitimate is to go through lawyers and the courts. Never do it as a private agreement because this can backfire.

Answer 7

Go to court house and request adoption papers..... he should be able to get a notarized letter stating his permission but she still needs to go to court to make it permanent.... good luck....

Answer 8

you would contact the department of social services and have a request for release of parental rights filed with the courts ,and then a adoption request filed to take full custody of this little angel.

Answer 9

First get a lawyer. Then hire ( and I stress hire ) an adoption agency to do the home study. I say this because an agency works  for you ( your paying them )  They will work with you and help you to adopt. Most state agency's deal with a ton of abuse, neglect, etc..  They make things much more difficult for families to adopt because they are under constant public scrutiny. Its almost like they look for all the bad things and overlook all the good things.  They don't want to be responsible if anything bad should ever happen to the child. The state won't work with you like an agency would. The state might be cheaper but it will be longer and harder for your friend to adopt.

Answer 10

There are some occasions where the signing of such documents can be handled in a lawyers office and then filed with the courts.  

There seem to be quite a few unanswered questions here though.  Is his name on the birth certificate?  If not, then the court might have a DNA test run just to be on the safe side.  The judge might want to make sure that the birth father was not signing over his right under duress, which can nulify the document signed.  

This does not sound like an easy situation and one that has many loose ends to tie up.  It sounds like the courts and social services might have to step in just to make sure.