Court Appointed Child's Advocate for Underage Mothers?

MamaKate

Dear BLW_KAM,

Adoption is the ONLY legally binding contract that a minor can enter into without parental approval or representation. This does indeed make it easier for young women to be preyed on. It is a disgusting failure on the behalf of the US Court system in my opinion.

Personally, I feel that ideally, ALL voluntary adoptions should include separate legal representation/counsel for ALL parties including the adoptee. The problem is, states aren't going to cover it through CASA/GAL programs unless the minor is a foster child or otherwise incompetent. Agencies aren't going to go for it because this would eat up much of their profit. First parent's rights are the last thing on their agenda.

sam22254

Don't get me going on Court Appointed Advocates the one that my son had was pure devil. She knew and worked with the couple who was trying to adopt my grandson's lawyer. She kept telling us what had happened to my son was wrong. Then on the other hand she begged the Jury not to take the baby away from the couple. She didn't tell the jury to take my son's rights but I know she told the other lawyer not to go get a tape that was in my son's Discovery and when the other lawyers didn't go get it. The tape couldn't be played in front of the jury. The tape shows that the birth mother and her boy friends family were lying about who the father was. She is a she devil and I pray one day she will have to face what she did.
Get this she even has a son maybe since Texas ruled that father's don't have the right to know if the birth mother is going to have a child ,a maybe years to come it will happen to her family. I have never saw one that was for the birth parent always for the adopted couples.

Rowan

i think they should definetly have some type of advocate. Who's on THEIR side and not profitting from the situation.

Ideally, you would think the parents , in this day and age, would support their daughter in this , but its not the case.

snowwillow20

Good idea and that child advocate should be a woman who has given up a child. Just my opinion.

kristysearching

Absolutely. You know I didnt even realize that a 17 yr old could sign away her parental rights without some type of advocate legally. Hmmmmm thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Felicita1

Where I live, my 17 yr old cannot even get a paper-route or job without my signature, yet can sign away a baby for life.

"In order to drive a car you must be of a certain age, to drink you must be a certain age, to have your own credit card or even your own bank account without parent signatures you must be a certain age - yet government allows very young vulnerable single mothers to sign a legally-binding document handing over their own flesh-and-blood, another human life, to complete strangers." - Claudia Ganzon, 2004.

mom1

Interesting idea and valid points made however this is a slippery slope for reproductive rights. If something like this was put into place, I would imagine that the states would look for some approval for abortion as well. I know some states have parental notification/approval but most teenagers and pro-choicers aren't fans of this.
Many of these young women become emancipated upon the decision to parent; would this too require a child advocate?
Thanks for the interesting question.

SJM

There should be more than an advocate. When I married at 17, my adad and step-mother both were required to give consent. (She did not adopt me, but she did become a legal guardian with my adad.) I see no reason why relinquishment should be any different. If the father of the child is also a minor, consent of his parents or guardians should also be required. Of course, the parents should not be able to relinquish the parental rights of their minor child without their permission, just as parents cannot enter into a marriage contract on behalf of their minor child without their permission.

As a side note, adoption deals with parental rights and contracts. It has nothing to do with reproduction or reproductive rights. It would have no impact on abortion.

red elephants

I think it is concerning that a child can make such a decision without any kind of protection in place. The same for abortion. Both are such serious issues that children are allowed to go through with very little counsel. To me it seems very wrong that both can happen when like you said a car can't even be bought on their own. Or even getting their ears pierced without their parents consent. Would less coercion happen? It might but it might not. There would be no guarantee that the child advocate was actually in it for the right reasons.

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