Ask Me Help Desk - Terminting parental rights.

I am 3 months pregnant, and the father of my child does not want me to have this baby. He has STRESSED that I need to get rid of the %*&#$%*@%#$* and had been real nasty towards me in this situation. He has agreed to sign over his rights but I don't know how this works. Can he later say like 5 to 10 years from now change his mind?

It doesn't work. Check out all of the posts on the Law>Family Law forum on the topic.

The only way he can legally give up rights is if you are married to someone else and your husband wants to adopt.

Even if he were able to give up rights, it won't prevent him from having to pay child support.

His child, his responsibility.

As indicated he can't just give up his rights. A court has to grant a Termination of Parental Rights (TPR).

Your question has been moved to the Family Law forum, its not a parenting issue but a legal issue.

Generally, a TPR is only granted to clear the way for an adoption or if the parent is a danger to the child. Courts will not grant a TPR to let a parent out if his responsibility.

Every State, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have statutes providing for the termination of parental rights by a court. Termination of parental rights ends the legal parent-child relationship. Once the relationship has been terminated, the child is legally free to be placed for adoption, with the objective of securing a more stable, permanent family environment that can meet the child's long-term parenting needs.

Termination may be voluntary or involuntary. Birth parents who wish to place their children for adoption may voluntarily relinquish their rights.1 When addressing whether parental rights should be terminated involuntarily, most States require that a court:

Determine, by clear and convincing evidence, that the parent is unfit2

Determine whether severing the parent-child relationship is in the child's best interest
Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights

The grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights are specific circumstances under which the child cannot safely be returned home because of risk of harm by the parent or the inability of the parent to provide for the child's basic needs. Each State is responsible for establishing its own statutory grounds, and these vary by State.

The most common statutory grounds for determining parental unfitness include:

Severe or chronic abuse or neglect

Abuse or neglect of other children in the household

Abandonment

Long-term mental illness or deficiency of the parent(s)

Long-term alcohol- or drug-induced incapacity of the parent(s)

Failure to support or maintain contact with the child

Involuntary termination of the rights of the parent to another child
Another common ground for termination is a felony conviction of the parent(s) for a crime of violence against the child or another family member, or a conviction for any felony when the term of incarceration is so long as to have a negative impact on the child, and the only available provision of care for the child is foster care.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) requires State agencies to file a petition to terminate parental rights, with certain exceptions, when:3

A child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months.

A court has determined:

A child to be an abandoned infant

That the parent has committed murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent; aided, abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or voluntary manslaughter; or committed a felony assault that has resulted in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent
In response to ASFA, many States have adopted limits to the maximum amount of time a child can spend in foster care before termination proceedings can be initiated. Typically, States have adopted the ASFA standard of 15 out of the most recent 22 months in care. Some States, however, specify shorter time limits, particularly for very young children. The laws in most States are consistent with the other termination grounds required under ASFA.

The above factors become grounds for terminating parental rights when reasonable efforts by the State to prevent out-of-home placement or to achieve reunification of the family after placement have failed to correct the conditions and/or parental behaviors that led to State intervention.4

Exceptions

ASFA requires that proceedings to terminate parental rights be initiated when the child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months. An exception may be made under some circumstances, including:

The child has been placed under the care of a relative.

The State agency has documented in the case plan a compelling reason to believe that terminating the parent's rights is not in the best interests of the child.

The parent has not been provided with the services required by the service plan for reunification of the parent with the child.

To clear this up, no he can not just give away his rights because he wants to be a dead beat dad.

You can not list him on the birth certificate, and he can not ask to be given any visits. So you don't go after child support and he just does not bother you.

But he will have the right to go to court latter to seek visits if he changes, and you can go back to ask for child support.

This is why of course you should be careful who you have sex with, because they will be the father of the child and in your life for the next 18 years at least over details of the child.

So best bet, have the baby, don't list the baby father and go on with your life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATYOURSERVICE

The most common statutory grounds for determining parental unfitness include:

This looks like a copy and paste. If it is you need to cite where you got it from.

My experience and testimony from people who have been through it is that TPRs are rarely granted. When they are its almost always to clear the way for an adoption.

Yes, TPR may be on the books, but seldom used and in only in extrme cases of prison time on the other partner or abuse and more.

[QUOTE=ScottGem;1390448]This looks like a copy and paste. If it is you need to cite where you got it from.

I did not realize I needed to quote where it came from, but here you go:

Child Welfare Information Gateway

By the way, I use only and sometimes link only government or state links and from reputable organizations. Never do I use it from a site that is trying to sell you their services.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATYOURSERVICE

I did not realize I needed to quote where it came from, but here you go:

Yes you do need to attribute any quoting or copy/pasting. Otherwise its plagiarism. In the future, please try and link to the exact page, you copied from, not just the general site.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATYOURSERVICE

By the way, I use only and sometimes link only government or state links and from reputable organizations. Never do I use it from a site that is trying to sell you their services.

I wasn't questioning the quality or nature of the sites you quote from. But this site does have rules about plagiarism. Also, by letting people know your sources, then can check them on their own and judge for themselves.