Failure to Notify of an Adoption.

[ArizonaFather]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

My daughter was adopted against my will by my sister and her husband in the state of Arizona. I put my child in their home where my ailing Father and Mother also live. I did so to protect her from her mother and her family. This is a sad complicated issue; because they have taken exceptional care of her. I was doing my best to design my life to be able to take care of her as a single father - so my issue is not over her care. She is loved and doing well; or at least the last time i was able to have contact with her. I met with their adoption attorney at the request of good counseling to discuss my issues with an adoption. I was not in agreement because i already had experienced serious problems with visiting my daughter and ailing father in the same home...my brother-in-law is a supreme controlling type that has never liked me and has done his best to keep me from visiting my family in any civil fashion. He has threatened my life in the past and only by the some grace have we avoided major physical conflict. During my visit to their attorney, i was told that they could not adopt her without my signature. I found out that they adopted her without any notification and i have proof that both my family and their attorney could get in touch to notify me of proceedings. Can i overturn the adoption? I love my daughter and raised her with her mother during pregnancy and birth - up until she was 6 months old...my name as the Father was on the birth certificate and the daughter did have my last name even though i was not married to the mother. The mother was given money for the adoption. My sister and brother-in-law have tried for years to have a child without success...my intention was to share the raising of my daughter with them...yet they have not shared anything with me and have tried to erase all traces of me being a major loving Dad. Can i overturn this adoption? Because as it stands now - i have no contact with my family...And i love my Daughter - with unbending intent to have her in my Life.

[txmom512]

How old is the child now? How long has she been with your family?

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by txmom512

How old is the child now? How long has she been with your family?

And how long has the adoption been final?

[ArizonaFather]

My Daughter will be 3 on October16th of this year. I don't know exactly how long the adoption has been final...at least since Feb. of this year. It really has taken me 6 months to even be able to speak about it without tripping out. So approximately two years...

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by ArizonaFather

My Daughter will be 3 on October16th of this year. I don't know exactly how long the adoption has been final...at least since Feb. of this year. It really has taken me 6 months to even be able to speak about it without tripping out. So approximately two years...

You certainly need a lawyer specializing in this area of the law.

I will warn you up front that there is some kind of documentation in the court file that you agreed to this adoption OR, at the least, that you did not object.

[las365]

Where have you been for the past two and a half years, since you gave your 6 month old daughter to your sister?

[ArizonaFather]

This i am sure of i never agreed to an adoption. Period. In fact upon visiting their lawyer i told him that i would not sign...'not even for a "million dollars".'

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by ArizonaFather

This i am sure of i never agreed to an adoption. Period. In fact upon visiting their lawyer i told him that i would not sign...'not even for a "million dollars".'

You may have agreed by not doing anything.

Thus, we need to know the answer to this:

Originally Posted by las365

Where have you been for the past two and a half years, since you gave your 6 month old daughter to your sister?

[ArizonaFather]

I had been in Arizona and had visited often until their lawyer approached me while i was in court on another matter to give me notice of their intent to adopt...he told me then that i should do the "right thing" and let them adopt her...i was blown away to say the least...i agreed to sit down with him at that moment and have a conversation - which i would record. He told me that he was not going to talk with me and be recorded. I told him that we were done speaking...i still visited my Daughter and Father secretly when the Brother-in-Law was away... and later i went to their attorneys office to discuss the matter...and was very concerned that i was having problems visiting my child and Father currently and so that coupled with the fact that i did not want my daughter to be baptized into a cult religion...wanting instead, for her to be able to decide her spiritual paths naturally at a later age of more experience and intelligence. After that meeting the Brother-in-law cursed me repeatedly outside the office and said that i had 5 minutes to say goodbye and that he was going to call the police if i tried to visit again. That was the last time i saw them with him in the same house.

[ArizonaFather]

This was in another's opinion an "ambush" by people i trusted including my Mother...(My Father is in the last stages of a terminal Illness)...and further compounded from the beginning by what i believe is archaic Arizona laws that give an unwed bio-logical Father no rights. In the beginning i pleaded with my Sister and Mother to take temporary custody to protect her from the Mother taking her out of State to be with her Father...which was a frightening possibility - having known that there was a repeated molestation of the Mother's son with at least knowledge by their Grandfather in his presence.

[ArizonaFather]

After the last visit with their attorney i repeatedly asked by phone and emails for reports on my daughter...asking for pictures...and medical records. With no responses...visiting was no longer an option...i was trying to financially put my life together so i could afford and attorney and have suitable circumstances to raise my daughter. This deal with the mother was cooked behind my back and without my knowledge. And after that last visit with attorney i was quite sure that an adoption could not take place without my knowledge. I have sent gifts and money to the family for the daughter. All of my pictures and records of my daughter taken by me and gathered during her birth and first six months were "lost" and/or destroyed by the Brother-in-law. After and absence of 6 months of seeing my Daughter and Father i could stand it no longer and literally had to sneak around my Brother-In-Law and saw her for them for the last time last November. After asking for report and updates by phone and email i finally pressed my Mother last January for the truth about what the problem was in getting information....i asked her if the adoption was still a possibility...my mother said "We'll Yes they have adopted her." That was the last conversation in any form that i have had with them. Heartbroken and Emotionally crippled - I contacted several attorneys who told me that i may have a case...that i needed money to start...Well here i am emotionally able to speak of this matter and ready to try my best to bring her into my life.
I was inspired by reading an old Arizona case where a Father had his child adopted out from under him while he was serving a year in an Arizona Prison.There is no criminal activity on my part associated with this possible case.

[perroloco2]

Originally Posted by ArizonaFather

This was in another's opinion an "ambush" by people i trusted including my Mother...(My Father is in the last stages of a terminal Illness)...and further compounded from the beginning by what i believe is archaic Arizona laws that give an unwed bio-logical Father no rights. In the beginning i pleaded with my Sister and Mother to take temporary custody to protect her from the Mother taking her out of State to be with her Father...which was a frightening possibility - having known that there was a repeated molestation of the Mother's son with at least knowledge by their Grandfather in his presence.

Those 'archaic' Arizona laws protect the interests of the father, mother, and child. To exercise your rights, all you had to do in the past 3 years was to establish your paternity with the courts. Since you never did, your consent was not needed for the adoption if I'm interpreting the statute correctly:

[url]http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/8/00106-01.htm&Title=8&DocType=ARS[/url]

[ArizonaFather]

I was told that because i signed the birth certificate as the Father that paternity was established.

[perroloco2]

Not legal paternity, as indicated by the statute. Did you read this part:

E. A putative father who does not file a notice of a claim of paternity as required under this section waives his right to be notified of any judicial hearing regarding the child's adoption and his consent to the adoption is not required, unless he proves, by clear and convincing evidence, both of the following:
1. It was not possible for him to file a notice of a claim of paternity within the period of time specified in subsection B of this section.
2. He filed a notice of a claim of paternity within thirty days after it became possible for him to file.

[ArizonaFather]

I have read the statute before - but did not really understand it...now i am 'getting it'...and this is not happy news...Thank You for your possible clarification...i just relied heavily on my family and the words with their attorney. I am still contacting the attorney that handled the 'Father that was in prison case.' There is a a callous selfishness and dishonor about this whole deal that has had me twisted for some time. Only now am i able to actually approach this without so much emotion and anger. At least if i try...my daughter will someday know that i tried my best and that i was always trying to do my best.

Peace