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Adoption Terms and Lingo Part 1
Part 2: Home Studies
Not too long ago, I wrote about relinquishment but feel it’s necessary to include it again in this series. 
The definition of relinquishment is:
In the context of adoption, this term generally refers to a birthparent voluntarily giving up his or her parental rights to a child, so that someone else can adopt him or her. The term “Relinquishment” is also very commonly used to refer to the actual relinquishment documents that are signed by the birth parents as part of the relinquishment process.
– Source
A few key points to remember about relinquishment:
- The laws vary from state to state, in some states there is a mandatory waiting period from the time once you give birth until you are legally allowed to sign. For example in Arizona, you must wait 72 hours after giving birth before you can legally sign papers.
- In some states, there is a time period once you sign that you are legally allowed to revoke your consent, in other states, once you sign the dotted line, that’s it. It’s irrevocable.
- Laws can sometimes differ for the biological mother and the biological father.
- In some states, (Minnesota for example) you may be required to appear before a judge in a courtroom before the adoption can be finalized.
In my original post with the list of terms and definitions, I failed to include the term and definition of “revocation of consent” and feel it is important to include it now.
Revocation of consent: A birth parent revokes the consent they had signed to an adoption and requests that the child be returned to his/her custody. — Source
Just as with the laws for signing relinquishment papers, the laws for revoking consent vary for each state. In some states, like my state of South Carolina, there is no revocation period. Once you sign, it’s final and that is it. In other states, like Delaware which allows twelve days for example, you may have a period of time to change your mind and revoke your consent.
More information:
This is a great PDF file on the adoption laws in each state. I like it because it is easy to reference each state quickly.
You can also check out this web page which has links to all the different statues for each state.
Previous posts on relinquishment:
Signing Relinquishment Papers
