Are adoptions and termination of rights synonymous?
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at
5:10 pm
My wife is adopting my children and the biological mother today gave consent to our attorney for the adoption. She (the biological mother) has further agreed to terminate her parental rights after the adoption process.
From order antibiotics online my understanding, by consenting, she is relinquishing her rights. Am I correct? Or is my lawyer just trying to get more $$$ out of me by drawing up more cases?
We all live in Oklahoma. Thanks in advance.
Hi Acoustica,
An adoption may not legally occur unless the first parent(s) rights have already been terminated. Yes, signing relinquishment papers voluntarily terminates a parent’s legal rights to their child.
The children’s mother may not agree to relinquish her ights "after the adoption process" because there would be no adoption without her doing so first. Hope this helps explain.
julie j
reunited adult adoptee
Her parental rights would have to be terminated BEFORE the adoption took place so that the child would be available to be adopted by your wife…
She would/will have to sign paperwork terminating her parental rights and I would assume that her consenting to the adoption means that she will willingly sign the papers.
She must first relinquish her parental rights before the adoption can take place not after the adoption. Then after her parental rights are terminated your wife can adopt the children.
It’s two different things. In order for an adoption to be able to take place, the biological parents must agree to terminate their rights. It’s one step in the process.
This doesn’t make any sense. How can anyone adopt any child, where the parental rights have not already been relinquished? Never heard of parental rights relinquished AFTER an adoption. Your children’s mother has to sign paper, that says she has relinquished her parental rights to her children BEFORE they can be legally adopted. Don’t matter Oklahoma or Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I believe that law to be the same in all 50 states.
They are indeed two separate items. In my experience in Texas, the birth mother gave consent to the adoption to let us start the process, then she relinquished her rights after speaking to a lawyer. Some judges require both some require only the relinquishment papers.