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Overturning an Adoption

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JMButler1728

Junior Member
State: Indiana

A friend of mine had a little girl about two and a half years ago. Over a year ago, her adopted parents convinced her that she needed to give this little girl up for adoption but that they would allow her to adopt the little girl back after she graduated from college. Conditions in this require that she pay for her daughter's needs, pay them for babysitting, and help out around the house. She still lives with her parents and has been doing this (she has been keeping copies of the checks and paperwork for the past 6 months, I believe).

The problem in this situation is this. Her parents now do not want her to be able to adopt her daughter back. They are saying that they have changed their minds. My friend does not know what to do. The situation is made all the worse in that it is an abusive situation. Her adopted mother has lost her mind and, though not institutionalized, has been diagnosed with a mental disorder and lost all of her memory for an extended period of time. There is paperwork for this as her adopted mother has been to see several counselors, psychologists, and doctors. On the times when my friend has to leave the house to attend classes, she frequently comes home to find her daughter wandering around unattended.

She wants to leave and will be leaving in a year, but her parents are saying that they will not let her take her daughter with her. What steps can she take to overturn the adoption? Even though they are telling her that they will not let her readopt her daughter, they are still requiring that she pay for babysitting and all other expenses. This has been going on for the past two and a half years. Babysitting costs $8.50 an hour. Abuse going on in the home is primarily verbal but it is also combined with some physical abuse toward my friend such as ripping her earrings out, striking her, etc. If you need any more information, please let me know. And thank you in advance for any assistance that you may be able to give me. I appreciate it very much.
 


>Charlotte<

Lurker
The adoption cannot be overturned. Her parents are the child's parents (assuming this was a normal adoption, following necessary Indiana adoption procedures).

By the same token, your friend is not legally required to "pay for babysitting" or provide any other financial support. It is not her child, it is their child.

If the child is in danger, she can do what she would do for any other child she knows: call the local agencies that deal with at-risk children.
 

nextwife

Senior Member
State: Indiana

A friend of mine had a little girl about two and a half years ago. Over a year ago, her adopted parents convinced her that she needed to give this little girl up for adoption but that they would allow her to adopt the little girl back after she graduated from college.
What a crazy notion. Adoption is intended to be forever, not adopting and adopting back!
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I am also going to add, that your friend does have a legal relationship to the child. She is the child's legal sister. Therefore, if the home is abusive or the legal parents unfit, your friend would have some standing for custody or guardianship of the child, by virtue of THAT relationship.

While she certainly has no legal responsibility to support the child or pay for babysitting, she also doesn't want to get thrown out of the home or separated from the child before she has graduated and/or obtained a solid job that will give her the means to care for the child, should she get custody or guardianship. She also doesn't want to leave the child unprotected.
 

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