Man files suit after son put up for adoption
Families in Chicago and elsewhere may be interested in the recent story of a father whose son was put up for adoption without his knowledge. The father and mother were unmarried and broke up before the birth of the child, but the father alleges that he and the mother remained on friendly terms and that he helped financially support her throughout her pregnancy. However, the mother gave birth to the baby and put him up for adoption on the following day. She told the boy's father a week later.
The father, who lives in Utah, says he filed for paternity as soon as he was made aware of the adoption. At this point, though, it was too late for him to obtain custody of the child. The situation was made more complicated by the revelation that the mother of the child was not divorced as the father of the baby had thought. She was still legally married to her estranged husband, and under Utah law, he was assumed to be the father of the child. Because of this assumption, he was authorized to give away custody.
In addition to continuing to work towards gaining custody of the boy, his father has also filed a lawsuit for $130 million against the baby's mother for putting him up for adoption. A lawyer who is not affiliated with the case noted that, in Utah, an unmarried father of a child can have the baby taken away if all necessary paperwork is not filled out. The father has said that he didn't file for paternity earlier because he trusted the mother and didn't know the child would be given up for adoption.
The parties in this case may benefit from the guidance of family law attorneys. The father may also continue to seek custody, though this could prove difficult to litigate because another family has already adopted the child and therefore has legal custody.
Source: ABC, "Dad Files $130M Suit, Alleging His Son Was Unknowingly Put Up for Adoption", ADITI ROY, January 02, 2014
