Are Birth Fathers Forgotten During the Florida Adoption Process?

By Connor Shelton

Choosing to give a baby up for adoption can be difficult. There’s no sugar coating this fact. It’s a tense situation that requires you to part with your child for any number of reasons. There’s no need to get into why this might be. It’s simply important to acknowledge, especially because of other factors’ strain on your pregnancy. One of these factors includes your relationship with your child’s birth father. You might even wonder are birth fathers forgotten during the adoption process?

We understand that a mother’s relationship with a birth father can vary from person to person. You might not know what role they play in the adoption process, and you’re worried they might derail everything. If this is you, you should pay close attention to the following information. We’re going to cover all you need to know about the birth father’s role in the adoption process.

Are Birth Fathers Forgotten, What are the Parental Rights of Birth Fathers in Florida?

To begin with, any birth father that establishes paternity has parental rights to their unborn child. That means he has a say in whether you even give a child up for adoption in Florida. Assuming he doesn’t want to participate in the process, he has the right to contest an adoption.

The Role of Consent in Placing a Baby Up for Adoption

One of the largest questions and concerns people have about adoption is consent. Namely, whether the birth mother needs the father’s consent to proceed with an adoption. As many adoption agencies in Florida tell you, one does not need a birth father’s consent to proceed with the adoption, depending on the circumstances. Let’s look at the following scenarios to learn more about consent.

The Birth Father is Unknown or Unreachable

If a birth father is unknown, you can usually start the Florida adoption process without their consent. The exception is if the birth father were to fill out a putative father registry. This is unlikely to happen given that the birth father wouldn’t know about your pregnancy, meaning you can decide on everything without consent.

In all this, one thing to know is that even if you don’t know who the birth father is, our adoption specialists will still try to find him. This is done to ensure all proper legal procedures are followed. In the event we do find him, we contact him, hoping that he signs off on the adoption plan or legally surrenders his parental rights. And if we don’t find the birth father, you can still carry out the adoption plan without him.

There can also be situations where the birth father is known but unreachable. This can be for a number of reasons, but know that if we cannot reach the birth father, you can still proceed with the adoption.

The Birth Father is Unsupportive

If you happen to know who the biological father of your child is, it is required by law that you tell him about your plan to adopt out your baby. No doubt, this can be stressful given the possibility of the birth father not supporting the adoption. This might be for a number of reasons.

For one thing, there’s still a considerable stigma around adoption. Due to various myths and common misconceptions, people frown upon the process as a moral failing. As a result, the birth father might not support the adoption because he might not understand the process.

Of course, negative public perception isn’t the only reason a birth father might be unsupportive. Some fathers might be against adoption because they want to raise the child personally. While this might be sweet or scary, depending on the father’s type of person, they’ll have to prove their preparedness if they want custody. Specifically, the father will have to prove he can provide support for himself and the child. If he is unable to provide the necessary support, then the adoption process in Florida can resume without his consent.

For more information on birth father rights speak to your legal adviser or adoption specialist.

Are you in a Situation Where the Birther Father is Unknown or Unsupportive? Get in Touch with an Adoption Caseworker

Whether you contact us or any number of adoption agencies in Florida, know that someone can help you with your situation. At Adoption Choices of Florida, we want to ensure the adoption process goes as smoothly as possible. That means giving you the sole responsibility of creating your adoption plan with aid from our adoption specialist. You don’t want an unknown or unsupportive birth father tampering with your plans, and neither do we. We’re here to navigate you through every concern you might have so you know how much control you have.

If you are a pregnant woman in Florida considering adoption and have any questions or concerns about the adoption process, please don’t hesitate to reach out. For more information on adoption, visit us at Adoption Choices of Florida or call us at: (833) 352-3678 or text us at 904-559-1251