Signing Legal Adoption Papers

If you decide to place your child for adoption, you’ll be asked to sign legal documents giving your consent to the adoption. When you sign adoption consent papers — sometimes called relinquishment papers — you give up all legal rights and responsibilities to your child for the rest of their life. The information on this page is not legal advice. Please consult with an attorney for information specific to your circumstances.

You are your child’s legal parent until you sign legal paperwork. No matter what anyone tells you, you don’t have to sign any documents until you’re in a clear state of mind, and ready to permanently give all legal rights and responsibilities to your child to the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs). 

You have the right to:

• change your mind at any time, for any reason, before signing consent papers. 
• wait to sign consent papers until you’ve recovered from giving birth.
• wait to sign papers until you’re no longer under the influence of pain medicine.
• take your baby home while you think about your decision.

For free legal information, contact the If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812.* 

*Note: Planned Parenthood is not responsible for nor does it endorse any legal, medical, or other advice or information provided by any of the entities identified or referenced herein or by any other third parties, whether referenced herein or not.

What legal documents will I be asked to sign?

Consent to Adoption Papers

Consent to adoption papers, sometimes called “relinquishment papers,” are documents that transfer legal custody of your child to either the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) or an adoption agency to choose a family in the future. 

In most states, you can specify that your consent is only valid for the PAPs you’ve chosen. Before the adoption is finalized, if for some reason the PAPs you chose are unable or unwilling to adopt your child, you must be notified and you can withdraw your consent to the adoption.  

Once the adoption is finalized:

• You won’t be able to make decisions about how your child is raised.
• You won’t have the legal right to visit your child (unless you have an agreement about this in the contract).
• You won’t have the legal right to know your child’s whereabouts or how they’re doing physically, emotionally, or otherwise (unless you have an agreement about this in the contract).
• Your child won’t automatically inherit anything from you unless you specify this in your will.
• You won’t have any say in where your child lives.
• If you name your child, the adoptive parents have the legal right to change their name.
• You won’t appear as your child’s parent on their legal birth certificate.

This is a permanent, legal decision. So no matter what anyone says, don’t sign legal documents until you’re ready. 

Who has to give consent for a legal adoption?

No matter where you live, the birth parents are the primary people who have the right to choose adoption.

If neither birth parent is available or legally authorized to give consent, the responsibility may fall to another legal entity, such as an adoption agency, legal guardian, or a judge. 

Read more about Consent to Adoption

In some cases, you and your child’s other parent may be working together to make decisions about who will parent your child. You may both be getting counseling, discussing your options, and signing similar paperwork. 

Or you may be unsure of how to involve the other parent in the decision-making about who will parent your child, especially if your relationship is abusive. Only you can decide how much information to share and what feels safe. Know that adoption professionals are required by law to try to get as much information about all possible parents and prove that they made an effort to notify and include them in the adoption process. 

What are the father’s rights and responsibilities?

The rights of expectant fathers/non-birthing parents vary by state. The laws also depend on factors like whether you’re married, whether they’re on the child’s birth certificate, enrolled in a putative father registry, or other factors. 

Legal, presumed, or biological fathers/non-birthing parents generally have more rights to make decisions about a child. These parents are often named on the child’s birth certificate, or have a paternity test that’s been accepted by a court as valid. 

Parents in these categories generally must be notified of a possible adoption, and have more legal rights to prevent an adoption from happening if they want to parent their child. However, they can't force you to parent your child against your wishes.

A “putative father” is not legally married to the pregnant person, has not been named on the child’s birth certificate, and has not been confirmed as the father by a court-approved DNA paternity test. But they have registered themselves in a putative father registry. This does give them some rights, such as being notified of an adoption or possibly having the ability to claim rights to the child.

In states that don’t have putative father registries, an expectant father can file an affidavit claiming putative father status. 

Read more about putative father registries and other expectant and birth father rights. 

Find out more about the rights of unmarried parents in your state.

For support with establishing paternity/parentage, contact Sky is the Limit Foundation.

When Do I Sign Legal Consent Documents?

Legal consent or relinquishment doesn’t become legally binding until after you give birth, but how long after depends on the laws in your state. Typically, the waiting period is a matter of hours or days after you give birth. Some states don’t allow relinquishments to be signed by the birthing parent while they’re still in the hospital or taking pain medicine. 

Hormones released during labor and delivery, the exhaustion of giving birth, and any medicine the hospital gives you can affect your ability to make big decisions. Some pregnant people also feel differently about their decision to place their child for adoption after their child is born and decide to parent or pursue kinship adoption or a guardianship placement. 

Some birth parents are pressured, lied to, or threatened by PAPs, social workers, adoption professionals, or lawyers about signing consent papers while they’re still in the hospital and under the influence of pain medicine. For this reason, when you give birth, try to have at least one person with you whose only job is to support you. No matter what anyone says, you have the right to wait to give your consent until you’re ready. You also have the right to change your mind at any time before you sign legal consent papers.

Find out more about consent laws in your state. 

If you need more time to find resources and support to parent your baby, you can have someone else care for your baby while you make this decision. You may also want to learn about temporary care or find other parenting resources.

What if I change my mind? 

In some states, you’re allowed a period of time to change your mind after you’ve signed relinquishment papers. In those states, you’re allowed to bring your baby home with you, even if your baby is already being cared for by the pre-adoptive parents. This is called a revocation period. Revocation periods range anywhere from 2-30 days, depending on the state. Some states don’t have revocation periods at all, which means you can’t change your mind after giving your legal written consent.

Find out more about your state’s consent laws.

For free legal information, contact the If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812.

What happens after I sign relinquishment papers? 

Termination of Parental Rights

Your consent to the adoption begins a process called Termination of Parental Rights (TPR), where the state permanently makes you no longer legally related to each other. Legal custody is moved to the Adoptive Parents (APs). TPR is final and can’t be reversed, except in extremely rare cases when there was something like fraud or coercion on the part of the adoption professional or adoptive parent(s). 

Adoption Finalization

Adoption finalization happens in court. This usually happens many months after placement and the signing of consent papers. During this period, the adoption agency or state is required to conduct post-placement visits with your child and the new adoptive parents to make sure the child’s needs are being met. 

New Birth Certificate

After the adoption is finalized in court, a new birth certificate will be made with the adoptive parents’ names on it. Your name won’t be on the birth certificate. In most states, the original birth certificate with your name (and your child’s original name, if one is given) is sealed and held by the state. The original birth certificate will no longer be available to you, the adoptive parent(s), or your child unless the adoption is finalized in one of the few states that have open record laws. 

You can find out if the state the adoption will be finalized in has open record laws or not at the Adoptee Rights Law Center.