Florida Adoption Law Questions..Anyone can help me?

I have just adopted 2 kids from Foster care in Florida (Pinellas). In my case we spent 3 years going to court trying to get the state to relinguish the mothers rights to the boys. I do know that before a child is adopted both parents do have to sign consent papers for relinguishing their rights..I am also a birth mother as well, and it took a long time to talk my ex husband into relinguish his rights to our child. The adoption of our child could not proceed until he signed. Anyway, the 2 boys were placed with me as a non-relative placement through the foster care program. After the mothers rights were relinguished we had to post a notice in the paper so that if any relatives of the boys wanted to step forward, they could because they would have more rights to the boys than I did. Even in private adoptions, the intent to adopt has to be put in the paper. I do not know about the issue of your mom being 15 and married would her parents have to consent. HRS was most likely involed since you was in foster care for a month before being placed with your adoptive family. Hopefully you can get some help from HRS on this. I hope this is some help to you!! Eva

Thanks for your response it definitly helped.

Kara, I was born 9/2/1969 in Palm Beach County, FL. My adoption was handled entirely by HRS. My Birthmother signed the relinquishment on 9/15, I believe there is a 30 day period in which relinquishments had to be confirmed at that time. She was unmarried so she did not have to identify the father. I have gotten mixed comments on the public notice issue. The bottom line is that sometimes public notice was given, and other times not. If notice was given, I have been told it would be in the Florida Law Journal or Review. If you look for this journal, you will want to check dates on and following the date of relinquishment up until the adoption confirmation date. In my case, my birthmother had approached HRS in July, two months prior to my birth. She stayed in a hotel which HRS paid for. I was placed on October 1 but my adoption was not confirmed until my second birthday on 9/2/1971. You should contact : Jossette Marquess at HRS

1317 Winewood Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399 0700

1(904)444 8000 ext.103 to find out if any documents regarding your adoption is on file with them. If they are, she will require that you send a copy of your driver's license and birth certificate to her to prove your identity before releasing the nonidentifying info she has on file to you. Best of Luck and please let me know if I can answer any other questions. Ray Buffer

Thank you for your response. I have been searching the Broward Review and have seen many adoption notices in it, however I tend to think that the ones I have read seem as if the children were taken away from their parents??? Now after chatting with someone here, I am confused as to whether or not I was even born in Broward County! She said that the Adoption Agency can change the county and sometimes even our birthdate?!!! Can you confirm any of this? Either way I am not ready to give up looking its just very time consuming. As for the HRS office, yes I did contact Jossette Marquess but she told me because it was the Childrens Home Society that handled everything she did not have any information regarding my adoption. Thanks for your help. Kara

Awhile back I was searching about Florida Adoption Laws and thought that I had seen one regarding siblings and visitation? Is there a law that Florida has about natural siblings being able to have visitation rights to a child that was placed in an adoptive home? I can't seem to find where I had seen it before and I am not sure if it pertains to my situation. I have a 14 year old bdaughter who has always known that she has two other siblings by me. My 19 year old son is her half brother and my 11 year old daughter is her full blooded sister. Do they have any rights to seek visitation with her? I understand that I gave up my parental rights, but neither of them had a choice in the matter. Where would I go to find out if you cannot help me? I appreciate it very much.:)

Kara, Have you contacted Children's Home Society? Their web address is below. You should call them to find out about what information you can get from the record. Specify that you want all the nonidentifying information you are entitled to. [url]http://www.chsfl.org/[/url] As far as changing counties and birthdates, yeah it happens. Florida is supposedly notorious for it. You should develop a sense for whether your information was altered by the sources that are quoted in your nonidentifying information. If they quote records from prior to your birth and include quotations from hospital records the information is probably accurate. If they do not cite enough sources and remain scetchy on the dates and locations, then you may have an altered record. DSH1225, I understand that you can go to the Family/Probate Court in the County in which that adoption transpired and request forms titled, or which sound similar to: "Complaint For Sibling Visitation", "Affidavit Disclosing Care or Custody Proceedings", and "Motion for Temporary Order of Sibling Visitation". These should be simple fill in the blank forms requiring only that you pay to have them notarized, no lawyer is required. The Judge will then consider the requests based on the best interests of the child, relationship, and whether the request conforms with the current laws. It will be his decision to allow or disallow contact. You might also contact the agency that handled the adoption to see if they have any inhouse policy that would cater to your request. I believe the motions above have as likely a chance as the petitions filed by adoptees seeking records and CI involvement. I would be surprised if the motion was allowed, because it would allow birthmothers who have had subsequent children to use the system for their own access to the adoptee. I would be interested in finding out what you discover. Best Regards to you Both, Ray Buffer

Thank you for the information and honesty about the outcome. I don't live in Florida any more so I would have to wait until I visit. I don't know when that will be, so four more years may just be what my kids will have to wait. I'll talk to my son about it because he's an adult. Maybe he'd make the trip to see what it's all about. My thought was that since he is an adult and my bdaughter is 14, the judge may allow my son to take my youngest to visit at the aparent's home. That way they would know I wasn't involved. In any case, you have been very helpful. Thank you.

Hi all, I was adopted through Catholic Charities and was born 7-31-1967. I know my adoption was sealed per default. I have tried to contact CC but met with resistance. I also know that the Florida courts can appoint an intermideary to petition on your behalf to B-Parents but I do not know what the $$ or pre-reqs are for that. Any direction or links to Florida groups I can contact that may help me? thank you Shawn

Shawn, Contact: Jossette Marquess at HRS 1317 Winewood Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399 0700 1(904)444 8000 ext.103 to find out if any documents regarding your adoption is on file with them. If they are, she will require that you send a copy of your driver's license and birth certificate to her to prove your identity before releasing the nonidentifying info she has on file to you. Any intermediary appointed, most likely would go through her office. She can also help advise you with the petition process in the county which you were born in. Currently and to my knowledge, in Florida, petitions are only approved where life threatening conditions or adoption fraud were committed.

to: dsh1225 i don't know if this helps (or hurts) at all, but in the case of my son, prior to my son's birth, i raised his 1/2 brother for 5 yrs (even had legal custody for a year (it's a long, dysfunctional story)). in 1997, the lovely state of florida decided that since i was not a blood relative, it was in the older boys "best interest" to be returned to his abusive father. i gave birth to my son about a year later (i had the father's rights terminated in order to protect my son). according to florida law (at least in 1998-2000) because the 2 boys had never actually lived together neither had the "right" to petition for visitation. currently, the best i can hope for, is that when the older boy turns 16 in a couple of years, he's able to break free of the control his father has on him & he comes to see his brother. he tried once before, a few years ago, but we weren't home & his father found out; so for the time being, he's afraid to try again. keep checking the laws - you never know when they may change something....... there may be someone who's able to find a way to "beat a law" & get it changed from that point forward (ie: the woman who beat the law & was able to get child support from a father yet have his rights continue to be terminated). good luck. (in my opinion, keep telling your children about their siblings & hopefully as they get older, they will find a way to meet - regardless of what the law says is right or not).