Adoption Rights of Birth Mothers
Adoption rights of birth mothers are well established by law in each of the 50 states in the United States. If you are expecting a child that you intend to "put up" for adoption--or if you are considering adopting a child--it's important to have a basic understanding of your rights. These rights establish the parameters around which adoption cases proceed, from start to finish.
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History
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Prior to the 1950s, a birth mother's rights in an adoption case were fairly limited. Once a natural mother made an initial decision to place a child up for adoption, she was locked into a course that was very difficult to alter--even if she changed her mind within a very short amount of time after initially concluding adoption was the course to pursue. Beginning in 1960s and throughout the remainder of the 21st century, additional protections were put in place across the country to better protect the rights of a birth mother in an adoption case.
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Time Frame
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The laws in all states in the country have been adapted to understand the emotional aspect of the adoption process. These laws are designed to permit a birth mother the ability to be more deliberative in electing to make a child available for adoption. These laws prohibit a birth mother from executing any agreement to place an unborn child up for adoption. (For this reason, surrogacy agreements are tentative at best, unenforceable at worst.)
Another typical law does not permit a birth mother to execute a document relinquishing her parental rights within at least 24 hours after the actual birth of the child. Finally, the laws in all states include a provision in which a birth mother can rescind a document relinquishing her parental rights after signing. The period of time to rescind varies from state to state and typically runs from a period of three days to a week in most jurisdictions.
Function
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The function of laws relating to the adoption rights of birth mothers are designed to ensure that a woman has time to deliberate and even reconsider her decision to relinquish a child and make that child available for adoption.
Effects
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The effects of laws designed to protect adoption rights of birth mothers take into account the emotional nature of a woman being forced with the prospect of relinquishing her connections to a baby--forever. This is a process that cannot realistically be rushed lest the birth mother not make the wisest, best informed decisions.
Legal Counsel
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A pregnant woman or birth mother considering putting a child up for adoption needs to consider seriously engaging the services of a qualified and experienced adoption lawyer. Such an attorney not only will make sure that she is well advised of her rights and adoption law in general, but he or she will also work to ensure that all of these rights and interests are protected and advanced in an abortion case.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit "Gift Baby" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: CarbonNYC (David Goehring) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
