What About The Dad?

Forever Families Through Adoption will make every effort to identify the biological father of an out-of-wedlock child. For children born in wedlock, the consent of your husband is necessary, unless FFTA obtains proof that he is not the biological father.

Please note that New York State law offers you the right to not name the biological father of your child. Should you choose to identify the biological father of the child, FFTA will attempt to contact him and then involve him in the process of adoption, from the development of the adoption plan to the exchange of information with the adoptive parents before and after adoption. Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc. will also link the biological father to counseling services if necessary, including support groups or individual therapy, as needed.

As a part of the adoption process, an FFTA representative is required to give the biological father, if known, the option to accept or deny the paternity of the child who is being placed for adoption. Should the biological father deny paternity of the out-of-wedlock child, he will be asked to do so in writing, in documents prepared by FFTA.

Should the biological father admit paternity, but not be willing or able to plan for the child, Forever Families Through Adoption will ask for a voluntary surrender of the biological father’s rights to the child, assuming that it’s in the child’s best interests. A representative from FFTA will then accompany him to Court in order to execute those documents so as to relinquish any parental rights he might later decide to assert. Should the biological father be unwilling to voluntarily surrender his rights to the child, FFTA will take the necessary steps to terminate his parental rights without his consent. Note that FFTA will not place an out-of-wedlock child without the identified and acknowledged biological father’s consent, his surrender or termination of his parental rights. Furthermore, in accordance with New York State law, an adoptive child will not be placed without the biological father’s active consent if he has earned “Consent rights,” either by paying for the child or by offering to provide such support, or by holding himself out as the father during the six months prior to a placement.

For more information on the legal rights of birth fathers in adoptions, click to read an article by Amy Silverberg or to read an article from the New York Times.