Do I Have to Tell the Father?
Do I Have to Tell the Father?
Can I give a baby up for adoption without the father’s permission?
Legally, your baby’s father has the same rights as you do. Adoption agencies have to make good faith efforts to get permission from your baby’s father to make an adoption plan. If a baby is placed for adoption without the father’s consent, the adoption can be considered at “legal risk”.
What happens if I don’t know the father?
Placing a baby for adoption if you don’t know the father is possible. Your adoption counselor will talk to you about ways to find him that might include contacting his friends or relatives, or publishing discreet ads that help us to locate him. Remember that no adoption agency should ever judge your relationship with your baby’s father- trying to locate him protects you and your baby.
What if my baby’s father doesn’t agree to the adoption?
It is important to remember that your baby’s father has the same parental rights as you. However, your counselor can help talk about adoption with your baby’s father to help him understand how open adoption works. She can also help him find out if he is ready to parent a baby and support a child. Your counselor is experienced talking to father’s about adoption, and will help you through this part of the process.
The father of my baby is abusive and I am scared to make an adoption plan.
We’ve worked with many women in abusive relationships. Your safety and health are our first concerns. If the father of your baby is abusive and you want to place your baby for adoption, we can help. Your counselor will help navigate the legal ways to move forward in addition to helping you remain safe from your abusive partner.
My girlfriend wants to put our baby up for adoption- can I stop her?
Legally, you have the same rights to parent your child as the mother. It is important for you to establish those rights and to demonstrate that you can support a child safely. If you’re worried about making an adoption plan or how adoption planning works, we can help talk with you about your rights.
