For Pregnant Mothers
Birth Father Rights and Adoption
Birth fathers have legal rights in adoption. Understanding and respecting those rights is an important part of the process.
While birth mothers often lead the adoption decision, birth fathers can play an important role too. Whether he’s involved or not, his rights matter. Understanding a birth father’s legal rights helps ensure the adoption process is ethical, respectful, and complete. No matter your relationship with him, we can help you navigate this step with clarity and support.
What is a Birth Father?
The term “birth father” refers to the biological father of a baby in an adoption. He may or may not have a relationship with the birth mother, but legally, he is still the child’s father. That means he may be involved in the adoption process, especially if he establishes paternity.
What is Paternity?
Paternity means legal fatherhood. When a man establishes paternity, he gains the legal right to be involved in decisions about the child’s life, including adoption.
Like birth mothers, birth fathers have parental rights. To move forward with an adoption, both parents typically need to give legal consent by terminating their parental rights. This allows an adoptive family to take full legal custody of the child.
If paternity hasn’t been established, the process may look different. ABSA can help you understand your situation and what steps are needed based on your circumstances.
How Does a Birth Father Fit into the Adoption Process?
Birth fathers can have many roles throughout the process, and it all depends on how involved he wants to be. After establishing paternity, the birth father can be part of the adoption process or not.
There are several roles that a father can have, depending on the situation.
If the Birth Father is Known and Is Supportive of Adoption
In situations like this, birth father involvement can be different for every expecting mother. Some birth fathers want to actively help birth mothers choose adoptive parents, or arrange an open adoption. A father can even create a post-adoption contact agreement that includes him in the baby’s life. Or, some birth fathers choose to agree to adoption and leave the other decisions to the biological mother.
If the Birth Father is Known and Is Not Supportive of Adoption
In some cases, a father may want to explore options other than adoption. The birth parents will need to work together and choose a future for the baby. These situations can be tricky, and adoption agencies can help you navigate your options as birth parents.
In Pennsylvania
If he doesn’t want to put the baby up for adoption, he can establish paternity and make legal decisions about the child’s life. He can choose to be a single father, or work with the mother to come to an agreement about the baby’s future.
In New Jersey
For the adoption to happen, he needs to be told that the birth mother wants to put the baby up for adoption and agree to it. If you attempt to contact the birth father but don’t hear back from him, the state automatically terminates his paternal rights. That means that you can make the decisions about the child’s future on your own if there’s no response from the father. New Jersey gives birth fathers 20 days to respond if they live in New Jersey and 35 days to respond if they live outside of the state. After that point, the father can’t come back and try to claim paternity or stop an adoption.
In Maryland
If you know who the biological father is and can get in touch with him, you’ll need to tell him about the pregnancy and your plans for adoption. In these cases, the birth father will need to agree to adoption and waive his parental rights too. Birth parents can waive their rights once the baby is born.
The Birth Father is Unknown
You may be unsure about who your baby’s biological father is, or think it could be one of a few different men. An adoption professional in your state can help you get in touch with potential fathers to establish paternity and get termination of parental rights.
In these cases, an adoption agency can be a huge help. They’ll do the work for you and help you avoid contact with the father if that’s what you want.
In Pennsylvania
Any adoption agency in Pennsylvania will be able to help you contact several potential fathers. It can be a huge help to have a caseworker handling communication for you instead of doing it yourself.
In New Jersey
The rights of all potential fathers need to be terminated, so an agency can help you contact multiple men. They will need to wait 72 hours after the baby is born to terminate their parental rights.
In Maryland
In Maryland, you must try to contact potential fathers to tell them your plans for an adoption. Otherwise, the legal adoption process can’t proceed. If the birth father doesn’t respond to your contact, the court will give the birth father 30 days after the birth to claim paternity. If he does not get in contact in 30 days, the father will automatically have his parental rights waived, and you can move forward with adoption.
Can a Biological Father Stop an Adoption?
A biological father can stop an adoption. But, you should know before the child’s birth if the father doesn’t want to choose adoption. For an adoption to be finalized, you need to prove to a judge that you got in touch with (or made the best effort to contact) the biological father. That usually happens early in the process. It starts the conversation and you’ll know how the birth father feels before the baby is born.
It’s best to reach out to the biological father as you start to consider adoption so you can get his opinion early in the process. The longer you wait, the more it could disrupt your plans. A contested adoption is difficult for everyone involved.
When a biological father contests an adoption, or tries to stop it, you have certain parental rights as a biological mother. An adoption attorney and other adoption professionals can help you explore your options, especially if they’re a specialist in your state. Biological parents’ rights are different in each state and you need someone familiar with your state’s laws to help in a contested adoption.
How Can a Birth Mother Navigate Communication with a Birth Father?
It can be hard to communicate with a biological father, whether you have a current relationship with him or not. If you’re nervous about communicating with the birth father, adoption agencies can help. They will work with you to determine the father (or fathers) and get in touch with them.
With an adoption agency, you can avoid talking to the father and let your adoption professional take charge.They’ll support you and the father through the process to provide educational and legal support. The goal is to make everyone comfortable with adoption and let them know their parental rights.
Adoption professionals can answer any questions you or the father may have and offer resources, like education or counseling. They’ll make sure you have the information you and the father need to make the best decision for your baby. Best of all, their services are free for biological parents.
You have options!
Contact us to discuss all your options and answer all questions. You can change your mind at any time during the adoption process