Father is objecting adoption, will PR be taken from mother?

[VanillaMango]

Hi, I have made an account on here to gain advice for a close family friend who is in this situation. He was contacted by social services Monday and hasn’t heard much of them since then, he doesn’t really know what’s going on and there’s lack of information on Google.

He was contacted on Monday by social services asking for his consent for his child to be placed for adoption, he was confused as he does not have any children. It then transpired that his ex girlfriend was pregnant and had contacted social services to relinquish the baby up for adoption citing mental health reasons and because the unborn baby has a heart defect. She is currently 28 weeks pregnant.

My friend has refused to give consent and has said he will take custody of the child. However after months of the mother ignoring him, she is now texting him saying she doesn’t want him to have custody as she doesn’t want to have any PR for the baby nor be on the birth certificate or have any rights to the child. She says she wants to forget about the child.

Will it just be a case of handing over the baby or will the parental responsibility and rights be removed from her in court if those are still her wishes? If not, will there at least be some paperwork showing he has full custody.

He is also worrying because he works full time in a good job and if he is only entitled to 2 weeks paternity leave he will likely have to quit work. I can’t see any alternatives for maternity pay but to single dads, I’m also going to post this in the financial forum.

At the moment he doesn’t have parental rights for the child, parental ruby’s extend to parents noted on the birth certificate or for fathers parental rights are either granted in court or through marriage. So he has a process to go through to establish paternity and parental rights.

The mother has parental rights from birth, if she is relinquishing her baby there will be a legal process to remove her parental rights to free the child for adoption. If the birth father wants to raise the baby, it’s unlikely her parental rights will be removed, because there’s no need for adoption - the birth dad would simply take custody of the child.

if dad wanted to remove parental rights from mum he would need to go to court, it’s a very tricky process to remove parental rights so he would need a good lawyer.

Contrary to popular belief you can’t just sign away your parental rights, there needs to be a legal process.

In terms of parental leave, have a look at shared parental leave policies. Assuming mum won’t be taking much maternity leave, your friend could use the rest of her statutory allowance, if she is taking the full amount of leave it comes more complex.

Sorry mum has no choice but to be on the birth certificate, to my knowledge you can’t register a child without a mother. She can apply to court to relinquish her parental rights. Your friend would need to legally establish is own parental rights, the easiest way to do that is for him to be named on the birth certificate. He would then have parental rights and could have custody of the child.

Whatever happens though, having a child with her will tie him to her to some extent, she may change her mind about the baby down the line, and he’d need to think about the possibility of his child wanting some contact with mum in future.

Its not a straightforward situation by any means.

Thanks for your reply.

She isn’t working so I assume he would be able to take the full parental leave?
thanks

Hi
Will social services provide him with some sort of paperwork that shows he has full custody even if she still has PR?

He is now living in Wales and she lives in Bristol. Things such as registering the baby at a GP, giving medical consent, Registering child for school/nursery I am assuming may be difficult without the mothers input? Even if he has PR?

I think the plan is Bristol social services are going to work with Cardiff social services until baby is settled with dad. But I’ve been told it’s going to be hard for baby to get simple things like GP registration without mothers input.

If he has PR, he can register with GP, school etc social work wouldn’t usually get involved in sorting out custody between two parents with PR, it’s effectively a private arrangement. They might help facilitate the process of settling in such a young child but they don’t have the power to say X has legal custody, that needs to come from the courts. Your friend could secure the arrangement by going to court in the same way separating parents might if they can’t agree custody and contact between them.

I don't know any of the legalities of the situation but I just wanted to say it is great that your friend wants to take responsibility for his child. I hope he is having some help to think through all the possibilities and potential issues.

As per your other thread, no.

You have put too many identifying details on here OP. I' d ask for place names to be removed .

Even if a child is removed at birth the birth mother will always be on the birth certificate, as will her husband if she has one. A birth certificate is a legal document, it is really import that it is correct for the childs welfare.