Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Mother ''kidnapped'' children, adopted without consent of father
If a mother takes her children out of state and away from the father without his consent, can the mother let the state take the children and place them for adoption without contacting or finding the father or other family members who could have had the choice of raising the children without them being placed into the ''system''? The children were old enough (over 10)but were never asked for their consent on the adoption. Child psychiatrist recommending the adoption not take place because adopting parents were not suitable...yet the adoption still took place. When asking for the adoption records to be opened for information regarding the case...the case worker said the files had ''been lost''. It's been over 22 years and the birthmother has pasted away and no answers can be obtained from her and the birthfather says he was never contacted and looked for children for 19 years and that the mother had ''kidnapped'' them.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Mother ''kidnapped'' children, adopted without consent of father
The short answer to your question is yes. A birth parent can do all sorts of things to prevent the other parent from discovering that the kids have been adopted. Some birth mothers have intentionally lied to adoption agencies as to who the natural father is, others have mistakenly identified the birth father as Mr. X and then have that person sign away parental rights when it was really Mr. O that was the biological father. It's sad, but true that all sorts of things can happen that would leave the birth father in your case helpless and hopeless to find and retrieve his biological children. If I can be of further help please do not hesitate to call me.
Re: Mother ''kidnapped'' children, adopted without consent of father
No one, and no state, can legally permit the adoption of a child without the consent of both of the parents, unless the parental rights of the parent have been terminated by a court because of some very serious problems which make the parent, in the eyes of the court, totally unfit to have any association with the child. Only if the mother lied to the court and the adoption agents about the identity of the father or his location could the adoption you describe have taken place. I doubt that the records were lost. More likely someone has destroyed them to prevent discovery of what was a crime.
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