Adoption Law: An Introduction
Birth parent rights are clearly defined in Illinois adoption law:
Illinois adoption involves the legal "surrendering" of parental
rights by the birth parents, or biological parents, of a child. Signing
a surrender, the legal document that terminates parental rights, is
a final and irrevocable act. Birth parents may sign a surrender without
parental consent regardless of age. Parental notification is not required.
Because of the finality of termination of parental rights, Illinois adoption law requires a birth mother to wait at least 72 hours after the birth of a child before she can sign a surrender.
Birth fathers also need to sign a surrender in order for parental
rights to be terminated. He may sign this surrender at any time during
the pregnancy, however it does not take effect until 72 hours after
birth. Of course, a birth father always has the option of parenting
the child. In some cases, birth fathers are not active participants
in a decision to parent or make a plan of adoption. Illinois adoption
law provides an alternative to a birth father signing a surrender.
If the birth father is unknown or known but unable to be located, a
legal notice is published concerning the adoption proceedings. If he
does not come forward within 30 days after birth to claim his parental
rights and parent the child, the court will terminate his legal rights.
The birth grandparents, or mothers and fathers of the birth parents,
have no legal standing with which to interfere with an Illinois adoption
proceedings. However, many birth grandparents do participate in the
counseling process.
Adoptive parents must have a home study completed in order to become
licensed foster parents, required to adopt. An Illinois adoption is
not finalized until six months after a placement. This is not a time
for birth parents to change their minds, but instead allows the licensing
agency to make sure of the child's health and welfare in an adoptive
placement.
Our Adoption Attorney : Katherine L. Maloney
