An Independent Adoption is an adoption in which the birth parent(s) sign legal documents after the baby is born transferring their parental rights to the child directly to the adoptive parents. Sometimes called private or direct-placement adoption, Independent Adoption is the most commonly used type of adoption for American infants both in Minnesota and in the United States. Independent Adoption allows birth and adoptive families to decide how they want their adoption to go. There are no restrictions on either birth or adoptive parents, so adoptive parents do not have to meet any special criteria (such as being under 40 to adopt an infant, being of a certain religion, not having other children, etc.) to adopt. For birth mothers there are no requirements that the birth father be involved if she is afraid of him, doesn’t know who he is, or can’t find him. An Independent Adoption may be open, with contact between the birth and adoptive parents. Future contact between adoptive and birth parents is also possible, sometimes by a simple agreement between the parties and sometimes by an actual court order. In an Independent Adoption, both the adoptive parents and birth parent(s) must follow Minnesota law. This means the adoptive parents must have an Adoption Study completed by a licensed adoption agency. The birth parent(s) must fill out Social and Medical Background forms which are provided by the State. If the adoptive parents live in Minnesota, a court order must be obtained before the baby can go home with the adoptive family. Minnesota law does not require that a baby be put into foster care, so most infants go directly from the hospital to the adoptive family. After the baby is born, the birth parent(s) signs a Consent to Adoption giving the adoptive parents the right to adopt the baby. In order for this Consent to be legally valid, specific rules must be followed: 1. Birth Parent(s) cannot sign the Consent until at least 72 hours after the birth. 2. Birth Parent(s) must sign the Consent within 60 days of the adoptive family taking the baby home. 3. When a Consent is signed, the Birth Parent(s) have 10 working days until the Consent is final. Since most infants go directly home from the hospital with the adoptive family, adoptive parents are at risk that the Birth Parent(s) may change their minds. This period of risk continues until 10 working days have passed since the Consent to Adoption was signed. Birth Fathers are often not involved in adoptive placements. This may be because he is not aware of the pregnancy or knows of the pregnancy but either does not believe he is the father or refuses to be involved. Under Minnesota law, if he is not married to the birth mother, is not on the child’s birth certificate, has not been adjudicated the father through a paternity court order, is not living with the birth mother and/or child, and has not contributed substantial support to the Birth Mother and/or child, he has no legal rights to the child. He is called a “putative father.” Putative Fathers can only obtain the right to notice about the adoption if they register with the State of Minnesota on the Putative Father Registry. A Putative Father must register any time between conception and 30 days after the child’s birth. If he fails to register within this time, he does not receive notice about the adoption and cannot take any legal action to claim rights to the child and stop an adoption.
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