Ah yes. The million dollar question. Can Isaac's birth mom change her mind? Could he be taken from us?
In a word: Yes. Do we believe this will happen in our situation? No.
Every state has different adoption laws and processes, so I will briefly explain how it works here in Minnesota.
For an adoption to be legal, the birth mom must sign a Consent to Adoption. If the birth father is named on the birth certificate, he must also sign the consent. This consent relinquishes their rights as parents. In Minnesota, the birth parents must wait 72 hours after the birth of the child before signing the consent. However, they can take up to 60 calendar days to sign the paper.
After the consent is signed, the birth parents have 10 business days to change their minds. (Including weekends, this could be up to 14 calendar days). After this possible 14 day waiting period is complete, the birth parents cannot revoke their consent (i.e. they cannot take baby back.) All that's left after that is a court hearing that states the adoption is "final." In 99% of cases, this is a legal formality. The only factors that would get in the way at this point would be if there was proof of fraud or coercion somewhere along the line.
Now it's time for a little arithmetic:
3 day waiting period + 60 days to sign the consent + 14 days to change their mind= 77 days of "legal risk"
In Minnesota, the time frame in which the birth parents can change their mind is 17 days at the least, 77 days at the most.
With all that said, I firmly believe that Isaac will stay with us forever. How do I know? Well there are several concrete reasons I can point to... but mostly? It's just faith. Faith that God brought us all together for a reason. Faith in Lexie and her commitment to Isaac. Faith that this is so right.
8 comments:
Your faith is inspiring and beautiful, and something that I share with you. :)
Amen Kelsey. And a reminder that God is so, SO good=) I can't wait to meet YOUR baby!!! YEAH!!!
-Melis
I am in awe of your strength and faith... It is truly inspiring and something I strive for everyday. Thank you for being so positive in such a difficult situation you give me hope :)J
Wow. I'm always amazed at the difference in the number of days of legal risk in various states. In NC, the revocation period for relinquishment of newborn children is 7 days. I admire your faith and hope that it rubs off on me when we're matched with a little one. I can't wait to see more photos! :-)
What a cute montage of photos! He's adorable. I'm curious, how did Lexie find you? I'm really starting to be frustrated by our wait because our agency is slow and am considering some other alternatives for getting our profile out even though it makes me a little squeamish....
If my 15 yrs. of church schooling serves me right, Isaac was the result of Sarah and Abraham's test of faith... that Sarah could have a child, that Abraham would do what God asked... Isaac was their reward--and he's yours, too!
I maintain that your family's story is extraordinary, and I feel privileged to be able to read it here. Thank for being so open!
Well said Becky
Geochick- Lexie did end up finding us through our agency. However, because I was almost convinced that it wouldn't happen that way, we did a lot of networking. We found Facebook to be BY FAR the way we reached the most people. We also did adoption posters, cards, and classified ads in college newspapers. E-mail me if you want to how we did ours... it always helps me to see examples!
jonathan.becky@gmail.com
And yes, a lot of the things we did made me feel very squeamish (good word, by the way! It's perfect) I'm a pretty private person and to put it all out there... made my palms sweaty every time.
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