Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

Deceitful adoption

At 19 i was cohersed into giving my son up for adoption. all thru my preg i was told this is what i was suppose to do.i was told that a family from my uncles church could not have children so it was my duty to give my child up since at that time i was unmarried.also at this point in my life i was plagued with memories and guilt of being an ''abused/molested'' child;i was having emotional problems.my uncle and grandmother were not concerned with my problems they were concerned about what will happen to my child.in the end this child went to my uncle not the family i thought i would be helping. for (almost)10 yrs ive kept my grief to my self.i have felt all along ive been taken advantage of.i was told it would be an open adoption that he would know me;my uncle wont even acknowledge me know...i never went to court over this .i was ordered by my uncle to sign ''adoption papers'' (he is very intimidating to me)at his office...and foolish me did regretfully.. finally after almost 10 yrs and the death of my grandmother im aching to know my child and him know me... is there anyway i can handle this?i am not rich just an average citizen aching for justice and the chance to know my son......


Asked on 3/15/01, 5:29 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Dorene Philpot Philpot Law Office

Re: Deceitful adoption

Under these circumstances, you cannot undo an adoption that has been in place for 10 years. Even if someone held a gun to your head, you'd have a hard time arguing convincingly that you couldn't have done anything about it for the last decade.

The courts don't want to have children's fate being changed or in a balance while all the adults fight for years and years.

That's why the statutes are pretty clear that once an adoption is done, it's done.

However, if it was an open adoption (meaning you were given rights to have contact w/the child) and those haven't been given to you, then you can go to court to get those rights ensured. You would go through the original court that handled the adoption.

The court file would contain all the info pertaining to the adoption, such as the post-adoption agreement.

I would start there, looking at the court file, and then decide how to proceed based on the facts.

There is a form that you can fill out so that if the child ever wants to contact you, he can go to the court and get the into on how to contact you. It would be smart for you to have that in place, in any case. Ask the court for a copy of this form.

Best of luck to you. Let me know if you have other questions.

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Answered on 5/29/01, 7:36 am


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