Vietnam War Vets and adoption termination?

Question

I'm seeking as much knowledge as possible with regards to rights being terminated of (American) children fathered by soldiers who served in Vietnam. I was born in 1965 and placed for adoption in 1968. My father was serving in the Armed Forces at the time and I anticiapate went to Vietnam. I want to get an idea how this type situation was handled back then. Where fathers served with a notice the adoption papers? Did the State terminated their rights if they were not able to get in contact with them to let them know they fathered a child? What about contacting the next of kin in the event he was killed?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I am in occasional contact with a woman who was adopted during that time period.  Her father went to serve in Vietnam.  He was not served with any kind of papers to sign, but upon his return from the war, he found that the mother of his daughter had given up his daughter for adoption.  He had no idea this was going to happen, and was devastated to find out it had occurred.

Father and daughter have now been reunited for a number of years.

As far as notification of next of kin, spouses and parents are normally the ones notified.

ETA:

I'm adding to this because it's got me thinking about how adoption matters have always been handled with regard to the fathers.  The idea of fathers' rights is pretty new when it comes to adoption.  At one time, mothers were often sent away to "homes for unwed mothers."  They would stay there, give birth, be expected to give up the child, then expected to move on.  Usually, they would end up signing relinquishment documents.  The fathers' were normally ignored in all of this.  Not only were they not offered relinquishment documents to sign, they were normally not even told where the mother had been sent.  If they found out and attempted to visit here, they were usually bullied into staying away from the establishment where the mother was residing.  

In recent times, fathers have been trying to be heard and given their rights.  But, fathers having parental rights in these matters has proven inconvenient to the adoption process.  There are new methods by which their rights are being circumvented.  Putative father registries are one of the biggest offenders of fathers' rights.  They are designed to keep fathers out of the way of children being placed for adoption.

Answer 2

http://misplacedbaggage.wordpress.com

Kevin there, is awesome! He is a Vietnamese Adoptee and knows a lot about it, I would contact him and speak with him if I were you. Tell him Gershom sent you :)

Answer 3

typically, a child born out of wedlock to a Vietnamese mother and American serviceman father needed only the relinquishment of the mother for adoption.  In most cases I know, there was no way to know/identify/locate/notify the birth father.  Sometimes the mothers kept the children as long as they possibly could, struggling to get along as a single parent with a biracial child, but when no help came from U.S., eventually many had to approach an agency/orphanage and make plans for the child to get the care needed.  In other words, it would have been unusual for the birth mother to have name and identifying information and valid address for the birth father to be contacted.