[Angela_williams]

My son is 17 years old. His girlfriend is 15. Her parents want her to give the baby up for adoption when it is born. We want to raise the baby. Can anyone tell us what our his legal rights are? Her parents will not return our phone calls and she is 4 months pregnant and they haven't taken her to a doctor yet. Please we need to know our rights. We live in Texas If anyone knows the laws please help. Thanks Angela

[450donn]

Basically you have no legal rights. The girl is the only one with rights. You can thank the Liberals for that one.

[ScottGem]

Whoops meant to disagree. You certainly do have rights. But before you can exercise them paternity has to be established. And that usually cannot be done until after the baby is born.

They will NOT be able to give the baby up for adoption without the father's consent. But you need to forestall any attempts to do so. So you NEED an attorney. You need the attorney to file a restraining order against the girl's parents to prevent them from giving the baby away. You need to file an order with the hospital so a paternity test can be performed when the baby is born. You may need to file other court orders to obtain custody of the child as soon as its born. You will need an attorney for all that so your first step is to consult and engage one.

Now your son may be in a very ticklish situation here. You don't say what state you are in, but since the age of consent is 16 in most areas, your son is very likely guilty of statutory rape. If the district attorney's office learns of this, they could decide to prosecute whether the girl's parents press charges or not. So again you NEED the advice of an attorney ASAP. Most attornies will offer a free consultation so you can shop around.

One last point. The girl COULD have an abortion. If she does, that would generally be her decision alone. If she decides to abort then your son would probably not be allowed any say in the matter.

[Angela_williams]

Did really tell me nothing

[Angela_williams]

Thank You This helped a lot And were in Texas

[J_9]

The girl COULD have an abortion. If she does, that would generally be her decision alone. If she decides to abort then your son would probably not be allowed any say in the matter.

Sorry Scott, she is in her second trimester, most states will not allow an abortion after the first trimester. She is currently 4 months along and that constitutes second trimester.

You are correct on every other count though.

[ScottGem]

Sorry Scott, she is in her second trimester, most states will not allow an abortion after the first trimester. She is currently 4 months along and that constitutes second trimester.

Ya know, after I hit Submit, I remembered that she was 4 months along and that might preclude an abortion. But I think it was still valuable to add that in my response. Maybe it isn't applicable for this OP, but someone else might be in similar circumstances and be earlier along. The point is that once the baby is born, the father does have rights that can be exercised. Even before the baby is born, there are things that can be done. But the father would have very limited, if any, rights to prevent a legal abortion.

[J_9]

Yeah, in most states it does unless there is a medical necessity.

[ScottGem]

Comments on this postAngela_williams : Thank You This helped a lot And were in Texas

Ok, your son may be in luck on one count. Though 17 is the age of consent in Texas, an allowable defense against the charge of statutory rape would be if there was less than three years difference in age AND the sex was consensual.

[J_9]

But the father would have very limited, if any, rights to prevent a legal abortion.

You are absolutely right. While the father of the baby has to sign for adoption he does not have to be notified of an abortion.

[Angela_williams]

Thank You very good advise It helps.

[yrotseus]

One poster said

Couple suggestions:

1) Make her have an abortion
2) Talk with her. Don’t order her to give up the child, convince her, but don’t ORDER her. She is going to give birth, treat her with some respect. That is, treat her as an adult, not a child. Find a couple and introduce them to her. Let her get to know them, help her to change her mind up adoption. Let this couple give her some sob story about how they can’t have children for whatever reason, and they would take good care of the child, etc.



I happen to be one of the "couple give her some sob story about how they can’t have children for whatever reason, and they would take good care of the child, etc."

You make apdoptive parents sound like monsters. I have 2 children that are adopted and they have a great life and I never think that they would mean more to me if they were born from my body. We love them very much.

Should this young lady be forced to give up her baby? NO. If she knows it is right for her to give the child up then she should. I respect her which ever way she goes and YES her parents should be there to support her.

[ScottGem]

One poster said

Couple suggestions:

1) Make her have an abortion
2) Talk with her. Don’t order her to give up the child, convince her, but don’t ORDER her.

Did you get your threads mixed up? No one posted anything of the sort.

[Angela_williams]

Not even the subject at hand. You should read before you give advise...

[Angela_williams]

Thank you all for helping. I just got word that her parents have picked an adoption agency to go through. I guess my next step is to find a lawyer. We want the baby but they seem un willing to do that. I guess they don't want her to have the nor us. I thank you all. Angela

[ScottGem]

Did they actually consult with the agency? I doubt if they did. When they do the agency is going to tell them they can't do anything without the father's consent. But yes, you need an attorney.

[ScottGem]

Please keep us posted on the outcome of this. And good luck.

P.S. Please keep the correspondence in the thread.

[Angela_williams]

I guess they have talked to an agency but weather they told them about my son Im not sure. She has insurance and they say they can't afford it. Even though wew agreed at first to split the payments. I thought as long as you had insurance before you got pregnant it would cover the pregnancy. But they say no. I think they just want to give up the baby but not to us. Angela

[HELPe-dawg]

This may help: http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwi....processSearch

[Angela_williams]

Thank You very helpful!!