5 years ago my SIL lost her boys and they were placed with my husband and I, we had the boys for 18 months and my SIL came to us and asked if we helped her get her oldest son back she would allow us to adopt the youngest son- she had no bond with him and knew he was in the best place. So we agreed and did. 3 Years ago we adopted our son and because the biological father was not on the birth certificate child and family services had not contacted him. In May of 2006 the biological dad took me to family court to get his child support stopped on our son. (of course he owes a ton of money in arrears) but the support was stopped.
Now almost a year later we are served again for court this time with biological dad who is claiming the adoption is illegal because he was not informed and he apparently signed a paper while he was in jail placing claim on our son as his son when our son was born.
This man has not had any contact with our son except for 1 time 5 years ago for less than 5 minutes.
We go to court soon (like a week) and I would love to know does he have a chance to get our son taken from us and what are New York State's limitations on biological parents after a child has been adopted and what are child abandonment laws in New York State.

He may have a chance to void the adoption, since he was not notified, that does not mean he will get custody, there may have to be additional hearings and you may get to adopt the boy again, But if there was no attempt to contract the father, and he was not notified, and had his rights legally taken away then the father still have legal rights.

You need to get an attorney. Whoever handled the adoption originally dropped the ball by not, at least attempting to, get the bio father's permission.

The bio father may get the adoption voided. Whether he can get custody is another matter, but it's a possibility.

There is one possibility here and a good lawyer should exploit it. You need to look at the grounds that were cited in stopping the Child support. In my, not legal opinion, his petition to end child support could be considered a relinquishment of his rights. If the petition was granted because you adopted the boy, that strengthens your case that he relinquished his rights.

We live on an Indian Reservation and there are no attorneys that will handle a case with a peacemakers court (I have tried all the way to Buffalo). I have gotten a copy of the court hearing from Family Court where he says " I am still paying support for Donoven and he was adopted out". I have a copy of his criminal records for our county. I also have a copy from Child Support showing how much he has paid and how much he owes in arrears. If he acknowledged the adoption at the time in Family Court wouldn't that consider him acknowledging the adoption and he has no case? He has had no contact with Donoven since May 2003 and he didn't want Donoven he only wanted to see the older Brother.

Thank you both for helping me as much as you can in your not legal way LOL :0)

Doesn't the reservation provide advocates to assist you in Peacemaker's court? Even if you can't find an attorney who will appear for you, you might find one who is silling to advise you on strategy.

But, I do agree, that his acknowledgement of the adoption during the support hearing should weigh heavily on showing he accepted the adoption.

To answer you about the advocate no- there are Nation Lawyers but not for matters like this. I did find a couple of lawyers who wanted to take our case but because they can't go into the peacemakers courts they are unable- they are the one's who told me who to contact to get the information that I have gotten on him. (Family Court files, Police records, Support Collection Records) I even have a statement from the Biological Mother who is furious that the biological father is claiming he didn't know because she called him the day we adopted our son and he told her that is something SHE is going to have to live with and that was 3 years ago. I am not sure of course we will be able to use her statement in court but I have it if we are. Thank you again I am feeling better on this matter

Looking better and better for you. I really have no idea how the Peacemaker's court works. But I would think it adjudicates tribal law, not necessarily civil law. From what I know of such courts, they tend to be more concerned with the spirit then letter of the law.

His claim that the adoption was illegal has to be based on his not being given the opportunity to contest it because he was either unaware that it was happening or not consulted. On that basis, he has a case. However, your defense is that he was informed (your SIL's statement) and he was aware of it a year ago when he got support stopped. His opportunity to contest the adoption was at that point. By not taking it, it could be argued that he relinquished it. So that should be your argument to the court.

If I were judging this, I would throw him out of court.