When I was 17 I had a baby girl with a boy who was abusive... We sigh:confused: ned a for that says RELINQUISHMENT OF INFANT BY PARENTS.. There were no attornys around or a notory.. so does this mean it was illeagal.. Is there such thing as RELINQUISHMENT OF INFANT BY PARENTS paper or what? I was 17 and I didn't understand really what was going on in the long run.. now I'm 24 and have a family.. and I need to know what to do to make this right... Its suppost to be a open adoption so I can see her but they don't keep in contact.. and I don't know what to do where to start..

Hello... I would recommend you contact an adoption attorney. It sounds like it could be a little complex. If I can ask, are you trying to get the child back?

No attorneys? No adoption agency? No court hearing? What exactly did you do? Was it a private adoption between the adoptive parents and you?

Yes, there is such a "thing" as relinquishment of parental rights. You need to go back and dig out the legal papers that were given to you at the time you relinquished your parental rights. There has to be an attorney who represented you. If you used an adoption service such as Catholic Family Services or whoever it was, then contact that agency.

I would ask also, like collinsmon, are you trying to get your birth child back? Or merely trying to establish contact? Either way, you need to find the agency, if there was one, that worked with you during your pregnancy. If not an agency, then the attorney who did the legal work for you, or the court who granted the adoption.

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Originally Posted by collinsmom

Hello...I would recommend you contact an adoption attorney. It sounds like it could be a little complex. If I can ask, are you trying to get the child back?

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I don't want her back I know she's safe and loved but when she does get old enough I do want her to be around... Ive seen her a few times.. but now adays they don't even answer the phone... they used to let me see her.. now she's 6 and I haven't seen her since she was 3.. She has a whole family here that loves and miss her.. And they agreed also that they would stay in contact... Im not sure what to do..

Was the open arrangement of the adoption part of the legal proceedings or an agreement between you and the adoptive parents? If it was an oral agreement and not a legal one - to keep the lines of communication open, then this gets tricky. Your best option now is to get in contact with a Family Law Attorney. Find your legal papers that were given to you when the legal proceedings were going on and made final.

Yes, find your paperwork (or contact the facilitator who handled your adoption for the paperwork if you do not have it any longer) and contact an attorney. Adoption laws vary state to state. I will tell you that in our adoption (in Indiana) the court did make it clear to us that the state does not recognize "open adoption". Whatever agreement we made with the Birthmother on contact, was something we had to facilitate. The court would not grant visitation to the birthparents if they said we were not "allowing" them to visit with our son. Just be prepared for that...