birth father contested

[karlarae]

What is the name of your state? wisconsin

we are currently in the process of an open adoption of a baby boy born april 4th, 2003. the birth mom was 14 yrs old at time of conception and birth. the birth father was 2 months away from turning 18. birth father has been nowhere in the picture during the entire pregnancy, birth or the past 2 months since the baby was born. we have a open adoption with the birth mom and her family, and a very good relationship. we went to court on may 22 to finalize the adoption with the birth mom and the birth father showed up to contest the adoption. the agency will work this week to try to get him to sign off once he knows what is involved financially - $500.00 paternity test, reimbursement of lawyer fees, foster care, medical bills, etc.
as of know though a court date has been set for july to hear his case and he has chose to have a jury trial make the decision instead of just a judge. if a jury decides he has rights and will not terminate them the birth mom will not terminate her rights as she doesn't want him raising the baby. she will be forced to parent a child she doesn't want to raise.
this young man has lots against him right now. he has been in the hospital for a drug overdose in the past, criminal history, still a senior in high school, lives with grandma, no job or car, and possibly has another girl pregnant. we are hoping that it doesn't make it to a trial and he just will agree to sign off his rights. however, my question is do we even have to worry about making it to court? what is the law about the ages involved here. if he comitted sexual assault can't they just terminate his rights? birth mom did consent to intercourse, but she had just turned 14 at the time and is considered a child? i've been doing research and found the following; 948.01 - "child" means a person who has not attained the age of 18 yrs old except for prosecuting a person who is alleged to have violated a state or federal criminal law, "child" does not include a person who has attainted the age of 17 yrs old.
also, 48.415 - parental concent of terimination of rights is not needed if sexual assault of incest has happened.
please help us. thank you, waiting mom.......

 

[stealth2]

I would ask your attorney about statutory rape in Wisconsin - what I found is that this is likely a case of statutory rape, since the girl was under 15 (age of consent in Wisconsin, from what I oculd find). It could be that once the adoption agency makes him aware that it could be an issue that would be pursued if he insisted on contesting the adoption, he'd sign.

 

[kam2051]

Do you have an attorney? I would certainly not force the guy into giving up his paternal rights by threatening lawful action against him, as it could get you or the adoption agency into trouble. However, the attorney might investigate as to whether or not paternity comes into play at all when it involves rape, even statuatory rape.

 

[karlarae]

thanks for both of the replies. no, we don't have an attorney. the agency provides a lawyer for the birth mom and the baby to represent both their interests. they are now working to provide birth dad with a public defender since he can't afford his own attorney. we would never threaten the birth father into signing off his rights. what we are asking is if his rights can be terminated by the courts because he commited a sexual offense against a child. the question is the ages here, being birth mom is 14 and birth father was 2 months away from being 18. i'm thinking that he can be judged as an adult at the age of 17.
48.415 statue reads that parental concent of termination of rights is not needed if sexual assault or incest has happened.
this would mean that the courts could terminate without his concent if he commited a sexual assault. defining sexual assault is my question. is he at 17 considered and adult or not.
any additonal feedback would be great. thanks.