What
is adoption? Although
that question may seem very simple, there is often confusion in
discussions of a family situation. Adoption is the legal declaration
that one person is from that time forward the legal ‘child’ and
heir of the older one who has been declared the parent. An adult
may be adopted by another adult if there is ten years separation
in their ages and they wish to do so. When adoption has occurred
the person adopted becomes a legal ‘stranger’ to his or her former
parent. Most adoptions involve a child who has not reached
the age of majority. That age is 18 years in Georgia. The basic
forms of adoption in this state are:
1.
Private or independent adoption. Those terms refer
to the same process and are used interchangeably. In this situation
a parent or guardian releases their parental rights to someone
else who is not closely related by blood or marriage. The adoptive
parent or parents are selected by the child’s birth or legal parent
and there is no involvement by the State until the Adoptive Parent
asks a Court to approve the status by final adoption. Essentially
the prospective Adoptive Parents have the task of searching out
opportunities to connect with possible birth parents. In Georgia
adoptive parents cannot pay the birth or legal parent to relinquish
rights but may pay medical expenses directly related to the pregnancy
and birth. There is typically no foster care interval in private
adoptions in this State. If the case involves a newborn and the
Adoptive Parents are willing to undertake the risk that the Birth
Mother might revoke within the ten days after she has signed her
relinquishment of rights (and that the Biological Father will
not assert claims), then the baby will typically leave the hospital
with the Adoptive Parents. A private adoption may be ‘open’ or
identified, ‘closed’ where the birth mother does not know identifying
details about the adoptive parents, or some degree in between
those extremes.
2.
Placement by a Licensed Child Placing
Agency. The Georgia
Department of Human Resources licenses and regulates agencies,
which provide foster care, adoptive placements and assistance
to birth parents. Because these regulations are specific and closely
monitored, Agencies are allowed to perform acts and make payments
which are prohibited to attorneys and adoptive couples. An agency
typically accepts an application from prospective adoptive parents,
performs preliminary training and conducts a home study of the
couple to determine their qualifications to adopt. The agency
standards may be much more rigorous than the laws of Georgia require.
For example, the agency may require that the Adoptive couple not
have exceeded some maximum age, that they be active in a religious
organization or that they meet certain health standards. The Agency
locates the prospective birth mother who is often allowed to select
the adoptive couple from files and information provided by the
couple for her use. The adoption may be ‘open’ or closed. Some
agencies encourage openness, even to the degree that the adoptive
parents are welcomed into the labor and delivery rooms. The agency
may provide housing and other personal assistance to the birth
mother in addition to her medical expenses. Often the child must
be placed in temporary foster care after birth while the parental
rights of the Birth Mother are completely extinguished and those
claims which any biological father might make are resolved.
3.
Placement by the State
of Georgia, Department of Human Resources,
Division of Family and Children Services: Adoptions through
the State Agency are most often those where a child has come into
protective custody due to neglect, abandonment or misconduct of
a parent or guardian. Often the child has been in the foster care
system during a period of time while the parent has been given
an opportunity to correct the problem. There is a growing trend
in this State to give preference to the Foster care family with
whom the child has lived when adoption becomes possible. This
provides stability for the child. Georgia law also gives preference
to blood relatives if it is in the best interests of the child.
These are the least costly adoptions in an economic sense but
the child often has medical or emotional issues which will require
tremendous parenting patience and skill.
4.
Relative or step-parent adoptions:
As will be obvious from the title, these are adoptions
where a relative by blood or marriage is undertaking legal parenthood
over a child who had some other prior status to them. For a relative
adoption there is generally an agreement between the birth parent
and the relative as to the best means to raise the child. In the
case of a step-parent adoption, often the step-parent of a child
takes the legal place of a father or mother who has drifted out
of the child’s life and does not contribute to the child’s support
or well being. Step-parent adoptions will not occur when the child’s
legal father or mother objects and is taking an active role in
the child’s life unless there is some extraordinary reason why
that parent should not be allowed interaction with the child [such
as a crime committed on the child by the parent].
5.
Adult Adoptions: As noted above, this is a situation where
one adult adopts another younger adult. Often for inheritance
or naming purposes, it still establishes the parent-child relationship.
Often this procedure is useful where there is a reason why the
adoption cannot be done at a younger age – for example, a step-parent
who wishes to adopt but the legal father objects. When the child
has reached age 18, the step-parent adoption can be done without
the involvement of the objecting father because only the consent
of the young adult is required at that stage.
6.
International Adoptions, domestication decrees:
Whether directly or through
an Agency, children may be found in certain foreign countries
which have treaty status with the United States where adoptive
placements can be made with Georgia couples. The adoption may
be finalized in that foreign country, in which case an action
termed ‘domestication’ may occur in Georgia which confirms the
United States recognition of the decree of the foreign court.
In other cases, the other country merely gives ‘guardianship’
or ‘custody’ to the Georgia couple and the adoption must be finalized
in a Georgia court.
Which
place controls the law in an adoption? Unfortunately
the answer is not simple in all situations. The best general guidance
is that the State where the adoptive petition is to be filed is
the place where the laws must all be satisfactorily met. If an
action is not legal under that state’s laws when the Court action
is heard, then the entire process may be jeopardized regardless
of its legality in another state. For example, in Georgia, although
licensed child placing agencies may do so, adoptive parents are
not permitted to pay to the Birth Parents (or to others on their
behalf) any sums except for medical expenses directly related
to the pregnancy and birth of the adopted child. To pay any other
expense or give the birth parents money directly for a non-medical
reason will not only cause their surrender of parental rights
to be potentially invalid, it is also a criminal act [a felony,
punishable by one to ten years in jail and a possible $10,000
fine, per violation. Paying a birth mother’s rent for four months
could be viewed as four separate violations.] Official Code of
Georgia, "O.C.G.A." §19-8-24(a).
Advertising
is another example where different states have different rules.
In Georgia a licensed child-placing agency may do acts, such as
paying a birth mother’s living expenses, which are illegal for
a person or an attorney to do. In Georgia a licensed child-placing
agency may advertise. A person cannot do so, regardless of whether
the advertisement occurs in a Georgia publication or that of another
state. A couple who is looking to adopt can write letters [frequently
called ‘resume’ letters even though they are not intended to be
biographical summaries]. Those letters and personal communications
can be circulated by the hopeful parents, but that same couple
cannot legally place a notice in a periodical or other mass broadcast
resource without violating O.C.G.A. § 19-8-24. If the adoptive
placement is made as a result of an advertisement but the adoption
can be filed in another state which allows public solicitations,
then no harm may have been done. However, if the hopeful parents
intend to bring the child back into Georgia and file their petition
here, they are required to disclose to the Court the circumstances
by which they located the placement and would be in the position
of admitting that they have violated the law.
The
advertising/inducement statute is quoted here:
19-8-24
Unlawful advertisements; unlawful inducements; penalties.
(a)
It shall be unlawful for any person, organization, corporation,
hospital, or association of any kind whatsoever which has not
been established as a child-placing agency by the department
to:
(1)
Advertise, whether in a periodical, by television, by radio,
or by any other public medium or by any private means, including
letters, circulars, handbills, and oral statements, that the
person, organization, corporation, hospital, or association
will adopt children or will arrange for or cause children to
be adopted or placed for adoption; or
(2)
Directly or indirectly hold out inducements to parents to part
with their children.
As
used in this subsection, "inducements" shall include
any financial assistance, either direct or indirect, from whatever
source, except payment or reimbursement of the medical expenses
directly related to the mother's pregnancy and hospitalization
for the birth of the child and medical care for the child.
(b)
Any person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section
shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall
be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000.00 or imprisonment
for not more than ten years, or both, in the discretion of the
court.
(c)
(1) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall
not apply to communication by private means, including only
written letters or oral statements, by an individual seeking
to:
(A)
Adopt a child or children; or
(B)
Place that individual's child or children for adoption,
whether
the communication occurs before or after the birth of such child
or children.
(2)
Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall not
apply to any communication described in paragraph (1) of this
subsection which contains any attorney's name, address, telephone
number, or any combination of such information and which requests
any attorney named in such communication to be contacted to
facilitate the carrying out of the purpose, as described in
subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection,
of the individual making such personal communication.
(Code
1981, § 19-8-24, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1572, § 5; Ga. L.
1991, p. 94, § 19; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1640, § 11.)
Under
Georgia law can you pay to have someone else search to locate
a child for you to adopt?
It is routine in some states
for attorneys or other persons who are not licensed agencies to
prepare and run advertisements and then to pre-qualify or "match"
prospective couples to birth parents. Fees, often substantial,
are charged for these services. Reading the statute quoted above,
it does not appear that anyone who is planning to adopt in Georgia
can use such an intermediary (who is not a licensed child placing
agency). If the adoption can be finalized in another state where
it is legal to use an intermediary, then the Georgia statute may
not apply.
Can the Internet be
used to seek out a Birth Mother? The
question as to whether use of the Internet constitutes advertising
in an adoptive context has not been decided in Georgia courts.
However, it seems that if the communication on the Internet is
a personal one by the prospective adoptive parents, does not involve
an intermediary [paid or unpaid] to ‘match’ them to a placement,
and is not disseminated in a ‘mass’ fashion then it would not
be in violation any more than letters sent through the postal
service by hopeful parents to members of their church. The Attorney
General’s Office in Georgia has previously taken the position
that bulk mailings to strangers are prohibited advertising. The
focal question which is as yet unresolved is whether communications
on the Internet are ‘personal’ "letters or oral statements"
as permitted in section (c )(1) of O.C.G.A. § 19-8-24. Chat rooms
may legally constitute conversations – that issue has not been
ruled upon in this state.
Does
Georgia participate in the Interstate Compact for Placement of
Children? Does Georgia
participate in the Interstate Compact for Placement of Children?
Yes, emphatically, yes. To bring a child into the state or to
remove a child from Georgia for purposes of adoption (unless you
are the parent or a specified close relative of the child), it
is necessary that compliance occur with the rules of the Interstate
Compact Offices in both the sending and receiving states.
Can
compliance with the Interstate Compact occur before the child
is born? No, the biological
mother or legal parents must relinquish rights before the Interstate
Compact Administrators will typically act, however, for convenience,
many applications are completed prior to the birth with most details
satisfactorily in place so that the process can be expedited.
Is
there a specific method and time period for relinquishment of
parental rights in Georgia? Is
there a specific method and time period for relinquishment of
parental rights in Georgia? Yes, a parent cannot surrender parental
rights prior to the time that a child has been born and there
are statutory required forms for doing so. The signing of these
documents can occur in a hospital or private setting and it is
not necessary that either the birth mother or possible father
go before a Judge unless the matter becomes contested in some
regard. After the surrender is signed, a parent has only ten days
in which the decision may be revoked.
If
a man believes that he is the father of a child and wishes to
preserve paternity claims even though he is not married to the
birth mother, is there a means in Georgia by which that can be
done? There is more than
one route for a man to protect his right to be a father under
Georgia law, however, there is an office under the Georgia Department
of Human Resources which maintains the "Putative Father Registry",
O.C.G.A. § 19-11-9. A man can submit his name, that of the birth
mother and information as to the time period in which he believes
that a child might be born; and, if the child is born in Georgia,
the listing will prevent any legal action with respect to the
child unless the man is given notice. This Registry can be used
by men who admit paternity and those who wish to have the opportunity
to determine if they are in fact the biological or legal father
of a child.
The
address for the Putative Father Registry is: Putative
Father Registry, Vital Records, Room 217H,
47 Trinity Avenue, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334-5600,
Telephone: (404) 657- 4121
Are
there rules in the Georgia law about ‘open’ or ‘closed’ adoptions?
Are there rules in the
Georgia law about ‘open’ or ‘closed’ adoptions? No, Georgia law
permits an adoption to occur in open, closed and hybrid in-between
forms. Frequently with newborn adoptions (either Agency placed
or privately arranged) the parties exchange information and details
but not full names or identifying material. Many adoptions involve
post-birth, post-adoption communication between the birth parents
and the adoptive family. The details should be carefully discussed
prior, during, and after so that there is no misunderstanding
as to the commitments being made by all persons.
Can
a Birth Parent or adopted person have access to information at
a later date which will help them find their biological relative?
Can a Birth Parent or adopted
person have access to information at a later date which will help
them find their biological relative? Georgia has a statute which
provides for the "Reunion Registry." When an adopted
person reaches the age of 21 years, that person, his or her parents,
or biological siblings, can ask the State to use its resources
and the adoptive records to locate the other parties. If found,
the one who was sought out can say "no," but will be
asked to provide updated medical information. If the target says
"yes," then they will be give information so that they
can directly communicate with each other.
The
address for the Reunion Registry is: Reunion
Registry, Georgia Department of Human Resources, 13th Floor, Two
Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3142
Is
Surrogacy legal in Georgia? As
with many other states, our answer is that Surrogacy is not prohibited
in Georgia but it is also not specifically authorized. The rules
for adoptions must be followed if the birth mother is the biological
parent of the child. In dealing with artificial insemination where
the Surrogate’s own ova is used, then she is the biological mother
as well as the surrogate and has parental rights to the child.
Since adoptive rules apply, she cannot be compensated for her
time and effort but that her medical bills can be paid. If the
child is not her biological offspring, then the position is often
taken that the surrogate has no parental rights to relinquish,
that there is no adoption, and therefore the adoptive rules do
not apply. Caution should be exercised as it is very possible
that a Court will not enforce a surrogacy contract if a dispute
were to arise.
Searching
out birth parents:
Briefly stated, some birth parents
wish to be found and others make their adoption plan with the
anticipation that their identities would remain forever confidential.
Any efforts of biological family to seek out adopted children
or of Adopted persons to seek their birth family should be undertaken
with discretion and in a manner which provides options to the
other side to permit full disclosure or provide a lesser level
of information. Reunion Registries are available in many states
to provide this service. A more expansive discussion appears in
the article on this site "Post Adoption - Finding Birth Family."
Several of the hyperlinks available on the "links page"
give examples of Reunion Registries and full information regarding
registration or search requests. Also, there are experienced services
staffed with trained persons, available to assist with discreet,
non-defamatory search and communications, such as that provided
by Shapechangers,
Inc.
Other
Reunion Sources:
If the state reunion registry is not cooperative or available
(for example if you are too young to qualify or the birth parent
is deceased, then
you may wish to register with other (non-government)
projects. Some
of these are:
the
International Soundex Reunion Registry.
This is a non-profit service. Send a s.a.s.e to: ISRR, P.O. Box
2312, Carson City, Nevada 89702.
RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: RootsWeb
WorldConnect Project:
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/
