- Image via Wikipedia
Throughout the course of United States history states’ right has come in to play many times. And because the United States is one of the biggest democracies in the world, with fifty unique states and many jurisdictions, states’ rights still comes in to play to this day, especially with regards to adoption and family law. One of the main instances where state laws are convoluted is the role of a birth father with regard to an adoption.
Each individual state has their own laws regarding birth father rights and adoption. Some states force a birth father to register with the state if they wish to assert their parental rights. Other states force the birth mother to notify the birth father of a pending adoption should they wish to contest it. Other states state the birth father must take immediate and decisive action if he wished to assert his parental rights while again other states put this responsibility on the adoption agencies or attorneys involved with the case.
The law gets convoluted even more so if the birth mother is married to a man that is not the father of her baby. Most states assume the husband of the birth mother is the birth father even if this is not the case. Therefore, whether he is the father or not the consent of the birth mothers husband must be given before an adoption can proceed. As you can see birth father rights are some of the most convoluted and confusing laws in family law. They are not cohesive and vary from state to state. Therefore depending on where a birth father lives his rights to his child vary greatly.
Because of this deluge of different rules and laws that are only applicable to certain people in certain states it is very hard to know what to do. If you are a birth father in need of assistance do your homework and seek out all your possible options. The best person to contact is a legal aid or family law attorney. If you cannot afford one then research your states adoption laws online to see if you have a case.
