Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

If your mother talks you into letting her adopt your kids and you find out she did it to get money from the state and is abusing them, can you get them back?

My best friend was having some hardships last year her electric had been shut off. DSF came to her house and said he two boys could not stay with her until she (ages 18 months, and 2) Both have minor developmental issues. Instead of putting them in foster care she thought it would be best for them to stay with her mother until she got back on her feet. Her mother talked he into giving her guardianship over them and later into adoption. she is now back on her feet renting a three bedroom, and her husband works full time. At the time of the adoption she had just lost her 3ed son who was still born. When signing the papers she was not in the right state of mind and he and her husband thought they had no choice. Well Just last week while visiting her mother she found some documents indicating that her mother was the one who had called DSF on her to begin with and had planned to take her children from her all along so she could collect money from the state. Her mother has kept all the paper work, proving that she did indeed take them to keep her house. Is there any way my friend can get her children back?


Asked on 10/13/15, 12:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Smith LawSmith

The fact that the biological parents are in a better financial position, is not a basis to undue or reverse an otherwise lawful adoption. The fact that a parent is accessing aid programs us not a basis to remove their adopted children. But, if a mother is abusing or endangering her children, is a basis for making a hotline call. If the children are removed from that mother's custody, and her parental rights are later terminated, the biological mother can seek to adopt them. Your friend might see if her husband is still the Dad. If just the Grandmother adopted (and not the grandpa) their biological father might still be the lawful father.

Good luck

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Answered on 10/14/15, 5:24 am


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