I would like to know if it is possible to reverse an adoption after 4 months have passed?

â™¥â™¥Ritaâ™¥â™¥

Are you a foreign student in the U.S.?? If so, have you thought about contacting the consulate that is here in the U.S. at your country's embassy?? I do not know if that would be a viable option.

This is really sad, you couldn't have been fully informed and to be pressured is just criminal on the part of the agency.....

Were you ever asked about the father of the baby?? Did you sign something stating you did not know who the father was??

Try contacting the Embassy representing your country and see if they can assist you in getting counsel.

Do not delay in contacting an attorney or your Embassy.

quiet_heartbreak

Get a lawyer and do it NOW. The longer you wait the harder it will be for the adoption to be reversed. The judge looking into the case has to take into account the best for the Child.

The father of the baby has a great shot at reversing the adoption as parental rights must be given up by BOTH parents for giving a baby up to adoption.

Rowan

First off, Miss Kitty, are you for real? She's not selfish for wanting her child back. She never should have been asked to sign papers so soon after giving birth, especially when she had told them she changed her mind. What that adoption agency did was unethical.

It sounds to me that they pressured you when you would be vulnerable. They hurried you, rather then backing off, when you expressed second thoughts. It might be a tough battle.

HumanToe

I would get in contact with a lawyer from your own country to pursue this. I don't mean to sound rude, it's just that your rights were indeed violated and I think you need to play the international leverage card.

Lori A

It's hard to say depending on where you live, which agency your going up against, and how much you can afford for a lawyer. But it is certainly worth a try. You were coerced. They knew yo were having second thoughts and moved the signing date up. They brow beat you into thinking of the other family before your own. YOUR FAMILY COMES FIRST. It might have been disappointing for the other family but the agency would have found them another child. I would move quickly and find an attorney who deals with adoption law. Get the father involved.

ETA: Sorry Miss Kitty I disagree. There are lots of things agencies leave out. They hurry things up instead of waiting the proper amount of time, they hope ther is no father involved, and much much more. That child bonded with his/ her mother in utero for months before being handed over to strangers. Nature vs nuture is always an arguement because it takes both, but as far as the mother being a stranger the child was handed over to strangers to begin with. Agencies have to learn responsibility in adoption proceedure. Family preservation comes first.

Robin W

To answer this and to reply to Ms. Kitty, who uses an old argument that has been found to be debatable; An infant 'attaches' to adoptive caregivers. That child has long since bonded with the natural mother while in the uterus. The baby remembers the sounds and smells of the mother and suffers from pre-verbal grief when separated from her. Talk to some adult adoptees when the people who adopted them are not around. There is love, there is attachment, but the blood bond is only bent, never broken.

A few notable returns of a child to the natural families have produced no trauma at all except for the ones who adopted. Anna Smith and "Baby" Richard are happy, thriving children. Get an attorney and make sure that you are clear on the laws in your state and document the nature of the misleading/coercion you received. Good Luck!

monkeykitty83

Ordinarily, there are limits to how long you can revoke a termination of parental rights. How long you have varies by state, but four months would generally be too long.

Your case is different, however, and you should contact an attorney. There is no limit to how long you have to contest a fraudulent or coerced adoption, because such an adoption isn't legal. You have at least two counts of illegality here-- the misinformation about the laws surrounding relinquishment, and the lack of consent from the biological father. Either of these would be grounds to contest. Bear in mind, this will be a tough fight. But you should definitely contact a family law lawyer, and explain that even though the revocation period has (probably) passed, you have grounds to believe the adoption is illegal.

After only four months, the baby will be able to adapt easily to going back to you. I wouldn't worry about the baby's transition at this point.

However, I would urge caution about the "no trauma" thing a previous poster had said, and you should understand that your child may need some help in the future to deal with this. Unless we know the people in those celebrity cases personally, we can't assume they weren't traumatized just because they didn't say so on national media. (Unless we're going to assume adoptees and first mothers aren't traumatized either, if they don't broadcast it to the world and are capable of functional lives? Is that the direction we really want to go-- assuming "no trauma" as the default?)

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get your child back. Sometimes trauma is caused by things that are very necessary anyway. Children are traumatized by being in the neonatal unit, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to save preemies. Children are traumatized by heart surgery, but that doesn't mean we should let them die. Children are traumatized by removal from abusive homes, but that doesn't mean children should be left to be abused. There ARE worse things in this world than emotional trauma, even for children. Losing you would be worse for your child than the trauma of being removed from the adoptive parents at this point.

But please, please don't just assume your child will be fine, and won't need any help or therapy. Listen to your CHILD'S emotions, not what others tell you that your child will or should feel. If your child experiences pain, help them understand their emotions are valid, and help them find healing. Don't dismiss it just because of the source, or because those emotions might make YOU uncomfortable. The point is to help the child cope if necessary.

Good luck in getting your child back. Contact an attorney, and tell them what you told us. You definitely have a fraud/coercion case, and hopefully your child will be returned to you.

Heather B

If you can prove the coercion tactics.

I wish you luck

kitta

If you are a foreign national, and your child was not a US resident, then possibly the US does not have jurisdiction over the adoption. I agree with the other posters who have advised you to seek help from your embassy or consulate.

You need legal help from your own country.

princess ChUa

I agree you better consult a lawyer or a social worker in your state. Here in the Philippines you cannot identify a family to whom you will give your child..a matching process has to be done. And even if you have signed a Deed of Voluntary Commitment, it will take six months to be effective..It is to give enough time for the biological parents to think about their decision.

I believe your law will always protect the best interest and welfare of the child...and in cases that the biological parents are willing and capable of taking care of the child, it will always be best that the child is in his/her biological family.

cmc

Did you give accurate information regarding the father and do you know if his rights were terminated properly (he should have also signed if he could be contacted)? I think he has a better chance. However if you can prove coercion you also have a chance. I am sorry you were pressured. You should contact a lawyer and see what your options are since they vary by state. Even if it doesn't work it will be best if you can at least try. Also I would contact your state to see if you can file a complaint against the agency. You could have backed out before signing and it would certainly have been "fair". However it is much more difficult now for all involved.

Mom of two

would contact an attorney immediately!

gibberish

My heart breaks for you.

Camira B

First thing you need to do is get an attorney. Don't waste time with the agency. He or she will need to file a petition to revoke consent because of fraud, duress, undue influence, misrepresentation, etc. This will most likely be a long, difficult, expensive battle, but don't give up.

I'm in a similar situation. It's been 10 months and I'm at the appeals court level. I have documented proof of the fraud and undue influence, as well as testimony that I had bonded with my baby and was crying throughout the whole ordeal. I even had the hosp social worker testify that she told the agency social worker that I did not want the adoption anymore and I still lost in trial court. This isn't meant to deter you. I just want you to know how hard these agencies will fight you for YOUR child. Pretty sick, eh.

I agree that contacting the embassy would be a good idea. Also, is English your first language? If not, you should have been given a translator to translate the meaning of the consent. I would also recommend parenting classes and a psychological evaluation so you have something to argue best interests with. Find a child psychologist who is willing to testify about adoption related trauma.

Hope this was helpful. Good Luck!

Ariana

First of all Im sorry for what you're going through.

Then I wanted to address some the things you say-you claim you didnt know exactly what you were doing... besides the fine print, Adoption is adoption everyhwere! It means giving up your child to another family to raise.
When you took that decision while pregnant you knew what you were about to do. You had decided not to raise your child and let another family to do so.
Now I understand you having second thoughts about it and regretting your decision.
But there's a time frame, it varies by state, in where you are allowed to change your mind so to speak-but after that time's passed there's nothing you can do.
So if you went to the Agency after the alloted time then really there's nothing that could be done.

Also, people here are saying that the baby hasnt bonded with the Adoptive parents just because you gave birth to him and that's not entirely true. That baby has been taken care of 24/7 by his Adoptive parents, he's already recognizing the voice and faces of his familiar surroundings and HAS INDEED a bond with his Adoptive mother and father. So that's something to be taken into account.
Also the situation why you decided to give your baby up for adoption-has it changed? Are you able to care for your baby? Honestly can you say that? If you're a foreign student you cannot work in the US so it'd mean going back to your home country with your baby.. are you prepared for that? Are you able to give your baby a good life there? What about your family/relatives? Do they know about this? All of these are things to take into account before you go and take legal actions.

Now if you still think you were coerced into signing the Adoption papers, nobody should be forced to sign away the rights to their baby, contact a Lawyer from your state who specializes in Adoptions... search the web for Adoption lawyers in your state or even yellow pages.
Adoption laws vary by State, so bare in mind that.

I wish you the best of luck!

Don't Trickle on Me

Depending on where you are, you have rights. Contact a family law attorney to discuss your options.

I hope you will do what's right for the child, though. The baby has already bonded with the family, and you are a stranger. There is more to "family" than blood and genetics, actually those things are meaningless to a child.

I'm sure you're filled with a lot of emotions right now, and your hormones are still messed up from giving birth too, which makes everything harder.

And, I'm sorry, but how can you really say you were misled about the adoption process? You knew you were giving your baby up permanently, right? I think it would be normal to have second thoughts and to have some regret, but no one forced you to sign the papers. And I personally think it would be a lot harder to give up a baby after 6 weeks of caring for them, rather than right away.

I just hope that after considering everything, talking with your mom or another trusted relative, and consulting with a priest or other clergy that you trust, you will make the decision that is best for the baby. This is no time to be selfish. Good luck.

Edit: Well, I knew my answer wasn't going to be popular. I mean, telling an adult to put a child's needs before their own? Unheard of! We all know an adult's wants and needs should trump the well-being of children, right? (Sarcasm, just in case you didn't recognize it.)
I will stick with what I said originally, and say I hope you do what's best for the child.

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