A Colorado father has been fighting for the custody of his daughter for almost six years in courts in Colorado and a neighboring state. The child’s birth mother lied to the man in 2008, stating that she was going to visit an ailing family member. She was pregnant at the time.
While the father thought she was visiting her relative, the mother headed over the state line into a neighboring state and gave birth to the child. Shortly after, she signed away her parental rights and gave her daughter up for adoption to a couple. The Colorado man had no idea that the mother had signed away his rights to his daughter along with hers.
After the adoption, the mother showed up at work without her child and was no longer pregnant. A co-worker of the birth mother alerted the Colorado father. Recently, after years in the court, the father was able to spend an entire weekend with his daughter, though she still resides in a neighboring state with her adoptive parents.
During the same time, he filed a notice of appeal in order to gain full custody. The neighboring state has a strict adoption law that includes a fraud immunity statute that stipulates that an adoption cannot be overturned even if a party involved in the process is lied to about the terms of the adoption. However, the biological father of the girl is the first in the state to win some parental rights after such a situation.
The man said that even if he won full custody he would still like the adoptive parents to play a role in the child’s life. What is faced by the biological father, the adoptive parents, and the young girl presents a challenging situation? However, the father was not given the opportunity to accept parental rights to the child. Therefore, he was denied his basic rights as the biological father when the adoption was completed.
These situations can be confusing and heart wrenching for the child and his or her family members. However, if a biological parent is denied parental rights to their child without their consent, then they should consider consulting an experienced family law attorney in order to help them understand the rights they hold as a biological parent.
Source: Fox News, “Father fighting Utah adoption law to get custody of his daughter,” Alicia Acuna and Faith Mangan, April 15, 2014
Tags: Child Custody
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