Notices in Newspapers

Wow Magic, lived her almost my entire life, never heard of the Examiner either!

Our notice was in a business journal as well. It's a very common practice.

Yeah, I thought it was going to be in the City Paper, which would suck for bmom since friends could see it (it had her name and date of birth) but it wasn't.

How are these men supposed to see it then? As a mom of 3 boys, one who is 13 and quickly approaching high school and all that...this scares me.:((Not to say "I hope something happens with Cam", no that's not what I mean at all!)

I agree ... no different than the putative father registries in a lot of ways. Just another reason for adoption reform. I am very thankful that my daughter's bio dad stepped forward (or at least cooperated when found) so we didn't have to do the publication.

My DD's notice was placed in a legal journal that I had never heard of before. My guess it was put there not to be seen... My DS's notice went in the local paper because it was placed by DFCS. They actually wanted someone to see it and someone did...DS's great grandmother.

Advertising in obscure magazines/newspapers that no one has heard of let alone read and/or with ads that are at best vague where no man could identify himself as the father is far more than shady, in my opinion it is unethical and if parties who are aware it is happening don't speak up and say no - then they condone the practice. Kind regards,Dickons

Our DD's notice was published in the regular public paper for all to see, however they used initials only for 1st Mom and DD. I remember wondering how likely it was that BF would ever see it (tho he knew of the pregnancy adn vanished). I found "our" notice on-line easily, however after much searching havent' found ANYTHING to suggest this guy even exists (though i know he does).

I actually publish these ads in Florida - I work for a newspaper that has a legal notice section in the classifieds. Any paper that publishes these ads has to meet all their state statutes. You can easily google your state's statutes for publishing legal notices or announcements. It basically has to do with the circulation number and are the papers easily accessible by the public. When they get to the point of publishing these TPR notices, it is usually because they can not reach the birth father or mother through normal channels. The CW has done their due diligence in searching for the parents, but they are either 1. Refusing to respond to calls/letters or 2. Can not be found. That is when the notice is published. By putting the announcement out there were it could be seen, they are finally exhausting all avenues of search. Even if these notices were put in the paper with the highest circulation (usually paid dailies in your area) it doesn't guarantee that they will be picked-up/bought and read by the person in question. It definitely can be a crap-shoot, so to speak, when placing these notices. But, they really only come into play when the bm/bf couldn't be contacted any other route. We can't wait forever while these parents stay off the grid or refuse to return contact. At the end of the 3-4 wk run in the paper, a notarized affidavit is sent to the courts, proving the ad was run in a legit paper. This is a legal document and will hold up in court as due diligence for contacting the bf/bm. (Our fs/nephew's BF (my brother) had abandoned K. They were getting ready to run a TPR notice in the paper when he finally returned contact in their diligence search.) Hope this helps explain this a little better. :)

It was my understanding too, that the ad was the last resort after other efforts to find the guy had been exhausted. The wording of our ad was very straightforward. Bmom's full name and dob and the date the child was born. But the newspaper it was published in is pretty obscure.

It's not that simple. If you use an agency there are certain things done behind the scenes that aparents don't know about or see. We paid a flat fee for my DD's adoption and I knew that publication was part of the process but had zero contact with the attorney that worked for the agency. I looked in the regular papers for publication and never found it. I only found out after the fact from another adoptive parent. For finalization I had to hire my own attorney who didn't let me see anything because bmom requested semi open. If we saw the publication we would know her last name which is something we were not supposed to know. So some of it is in a gray area particularly if the adoption is closed or semi open.

Notification varies by state. My state requires serving at the last known address AND publication. When it comes down to it really puts a lot of the burden on the bmom. It really helps if she knows who the father is and where he lives. If she wants confidentiality that's hard to do in a newspaper that most people read. How do you protect her privacy and notify the father at the same time? I know I would be embarassed to have my name in the paper for certain types of situations.

Thanks GalFriday...and everyone else! :) I found a website on-line that searched all the city papers for legal ads. I just wonder if some of the more obscure papers are represented. Not sure why I have the NEED to see this ad. Need to explore that a little more I think.

JCM, I was very, very curious to see the ad. It didn't have any info we didn't already have...just felt the need to see it. Maybe part of it was proof that the agency was doing what they were supposed to do since they had been a little flaky and obviously, the 30 days after the ad started was a big milestone. I also printed it for my daughter's records.

Sleeplvr, I do understand your point but it is not relevant to my statement. My statement ended with: if parties who are aware it is happening and don't speak up and say no - then they condone the practice... Regards,Dickons