Alabama Adoption Proceedings
A Montgomery, Alabama client called today seeking to rescind the adoption she consented to shortly after giving birth. Her baby is at an adoption agency in Birmingham, Alabama and she desperately wants him back. This is a complicated case because the girl is a minor, and her mother pressured her into putting the infant up for adoption while she was still in the hospital, under doctors care, and on prescribed medications. She finally relented to her mother's pressure and gave the baby to an adoption agency here in Birmingham. Thankfully, the minor realized she made a mistake quickly enough ,and we should be able to get her baby back. Alabama Code Section 26-10A-13 and 26-10A-14 governs the withdrawal of consent to an adoption. In Alabama, once you consent to place your baby up for adoption, that consent cannot be withdrawn except in the following circumstances:
- consent may be withdrawn at any time within five days of birth, or within five days of signing the consent forms;
- consent may be withdrawn within fourteen days if reasonable under the circumstances and in the best interests of the child;
- or if the consent was obtained by fraud or duress.
In my Birmingham case, the girl rescinded her consent within the statutory time period ,and there is a good argument to be made that she consented under duress giving the circumstances in which she consented to the adoption.
does alabama recognize common law adoption pre 1950 for inheritance rights of a child.
example: a married couple raised a child as their own from birth commencing in the 1920's. no formal adoption took place. would the law recognize this as a valid adoption.