Can you Make an Adoption Plan with an Unknown Birth Father in Arizona ?
For many birth mothers, even considering adoption is halted by their questions of legality. If the birth father in Arizona is totally unknown, can you still put up your baby for adoption? What about if you just know the birth father’s name but don’t have any contact information? Some mothers also find themselves unsure if one of the multiple people is the father. No matter the situation, you may still be able to put your baby up for adoption. Adoption Choices of Arizona has been helping mothers for years and will help you build an adoption plan.
If you need adoption help now, please call or text us at 1-480-900-5520 or visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona.
I Don’t Know the Name of the My Baby’s Father
For most situations, it’s legally the easiest if you’re able to identify the father. In situations where you don’t know the name of the birth father at all, they generally don’t maintain any parental rights. If you just know the first name, we can help you find if they are on Arizona’s putative father registry. The putative father registry allows men to sign on to be notified about possible adoptions. In the case where there is absolutely no contact from the birth father, then their parental rights are terminated, and the adoption no longer requires their consent.
If this situation sounds anything like you, Adoption Choices of Arizona will help you sort it out for free. Our caseworkers are familiar with stories like yours and can determine how and if you can find the birth father.
The Birth Father Doesn’t Care
There are a few possibilities if the birth father is found once we search for them. It’s not uncommon for an absent birth father to be ambivalent about a birth mother putting their baby up for adoption. Sometimes ambivalence means they reply to messages and agree to relinquish their parental rights for the adoption. A birth father in Arizona may also choose not to respond at all, but adoption agencies in Arizona are required to try to contact them in most cases. When no response is ever given, the birth mother usually can put their baby up for adoption. If the parental rights are never claimed, then it’s a bit easier to move along with the adoption.
The Birth Father is Unsupportive
If the birth father doesn’t support the adoption, that doesn’t always mean they can prevent it from happening. First of all, the father must be legally considered a parent. In Arizona, this is presumed if you are married to the birth father when the baby would have been conceived. Paternity is also presumed if there is a strong genetic match, but that may not be done until after the child is born. When both parents sign the birth certificate or a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, then paternity is presumed.
This means that in some situations with a known but unsupportive birth father, they may still not have the parental rights to stop an adoption from happening. Unless an unmarried birth father has specifically claimed paternity, then they don’t have those rights. Nevertheless, if you’re aware of the birth father’s identity, you generally should tell your adoption caseworker to help the process go along smoothly. If you have a reason to worry about your safety or the safety of the child if you disclose that information, we may still be able to help you find a solution that doesn’t involve the birth father at all. But it’s incredibly important that birth fathers know so that they can’t challenge an adoption after it happens.
The Birth Father is Someone Other than my Husband
While married fathers have presumed parental rights, this doesn’t mean they always maintain them. The birth father’s process for getting parental rights is like that of unmarried birth fathers. As for the married father, can decide to allow the adoption to go forward without their involvement whatsoever. For an estranged or absent husband, they may be legally considered to have abandoned you and not maintain parental rights. These can become complicated legal issues, so it’s always best to come to an adoption agency to find unplanned pregnancy options.
Making an Adoption Plan in Complex Circumstances
When the birth father is unknown or unsupportive, even considering adoption feels like a massive mess. Adoption Choices of Arizona has years of experience and the help of adoption attorneys to help sort out all of the legal issues involved. We’ll make sure they get everything they need for the birth father who is willing to go along with the birth mother’s decision.For the birth mother trying to put their baby up for adoption without a supportive birth father, we want you to be able to make the best decision for you and your child. No matter your situation, make a call to Adoption Choices of Arizona to start building an adoption plan!
For adoption resources or to begin your adoption journey, birth parents can visit us at Adoption Choices of Arizona or call or text us at 1-480-900-5520. If you are a prospective adoptive family hoping to adopt a baby, please instead, visit us here!
Meet the author: Joshua Boulet is an aspiring journalist and writer with a particular fondness for research and social sciences. He loves music, writing, reading, video games and most art, and anything creative he can get his hands on. Boulet believes that there’s too much good stuff out there and not enough time to see it all. He grew up on video games: the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games, Mario Kart, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Legend of Zelda. The music of rhythm games led him to an interest in that, and the investigative journalism of Jason Schreier inspired him to discover the importance of journalism as an industry. That interest in developers’ lives led him to an interest in social justice and how the world could maybe be made into a better place. “All this to say, there is certainly a line I can draw between me obsessively playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and me interviewing my sociology professor about how to read academic articles. Those surprising through lines fascinate me all the same. At my best, I’m a person who gets to be constantly fascinated by the lives and work of other people.”
His favorite quote is from his favorite jazz musician:
“A genius is the one most like himself” – Thelonious Monk.
