Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

Emancipation and reassignment of adoption rights

My niece and nephew currently live with their biological father, my brother. He received custody after his ex-wife, their adoptive mother, attempted suicide earlier this year. The court order grants their mother (who legally adopted them after she and my brother got married) standard visitation rights. The kids refuse to go see her, and in fact don't want to see her ever again.

My nephew heard somewhere that at the age of 16, you can become emancipated from one parent(without her consent), without becoming emancipated from the other. He also heard that he can have his ''adoption rights reassigned'' to someone of his choosing.

I promised him and my niece that I would look into it for them, but am having trouble finding the information I'm looking for. Can you help with what this ''adoption rights reassigned'' means (and the guidelines if applicable), and with the emancipation guidelines?


Asked on 11/12/04, 11:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mary Ann Wunder Wunder & Wunder

Re: Emancipation and reassignment of adoption rights

Children under 18 cannot be emancipated unless they are treated as CHINS or delinquent children and the juvenile court judge approves a specific plan of emancipation. This type of law is just not enacted in Indiana. A child 14 or older can speak to the judge during both modification and contempt proceedings to give his opinion but nothing the child says is binding on how the judge decides. Indiana has not yet determined that the children have a right to be in charge. It decrees that the adults be in charge and make the rules for the children.

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Answered on 11/15/04, 3:55 pm


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