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I was recently told by the biological mother of my daughter that she had the option of reversing the adoption for up to 3 years after the date of the adoption. She was told this by a public attorney, from what I've read it would be almost impossible to accomplish this task as she had parental rights terminated. Does any one have any input or experience with this?
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AuntEMomE:I would be very surprised if what the birthmother believes she heard is accurate. In most cases, if a birthmother signs relinquishment papers or has her parental rights terminated by a court of law, the relinquishment or termination cannot be reversed. There might be an exception if fraud or coercion could be proven, but there would probably be a statute of limitations indicating how long after the relinquishment a person had to make such a claim. Many states also have laws allowing reinstatement of parental rights if a child has not been placed for adoption, is at risk of aging out of the foster care system, wishes to be reunited with his/her birthparents, and will no longer be at risk of harm from the birthparents.It is not unusual for birthmothers to grieve heavily after relinquishment. In the throes of grief, the woman might well find it easy to misunderstand something that is said to her, especially if she also has a history of psychiatric illness or substance abuse. As an example, the birthmother might have been told that she had up to three years to file a claim, if she had compelling evidence that a social worker intentionally falsified documents to make it appear that she was incompetent to provide care to a child, or that someone offered her money to relinquish her child. Judges are very reluctant to overturn a relinquishment and adoption, and return a child to his/her birthparent, unless there is glaring evidence of misconduct. Yes, some adoptions do get overturned. In most cases, malfeasance is painfully evident. An social worker manufacturing a case that a pregnant woman is too unstable to parent, simply because she decided not to pursue an adoption and discontinued contact with a prospective adoptive parent after matching. A judge who is on an adoption agency's advisory board failing to recuse himself from a case involving the agency, and causing a baby to be forcibly and wrongfully removed from his biological mother while she was nursing him. An adoptive family discovering that an agency knew that the child placed with them had serious medical or mental health problems, yet placed him/her as healthy. A father serving in the military and deployed to the Middle East, who was never notified of his estranged wife's plan to place their baby. The birthmother never disclosing that the birthfather was 25% Native American and registered with a tribe, so the tribe had the right to be involved in the adoption.But, overall, it is not all that common, and you would do well to relax and parent your child without fear.Sharon
Interestingly, when we adopted 24 years ago on Guam, we were told by Guam Social Services that the birth mother would have 7 YEARS to change her mind and reverse the adoption! It wasn't until we found her (3 years ago) and our son reunited with her that we learned she was never given this information.
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