907_Group_P2

Position Paper – Part Two

Name: Jesse Short

There are many possible solutions to this problem. The possible solutions are to require that dual consent must be a necessity in order to even consider adoption. By having dual consent implemented into the adoption process, the parents must both understand what is going on with the child and agree to the terms listed in adoption papers and by the courts so that no person is left "out of the loop" and has no reason to argue against the child being given to another family.

In additon to dual consent, the biological parents have thirty days to reclaim their children before the adoption process is finalized and the adoptive parents have full custody of the child. This thirty day "grace period" gives biological parents an ample amount of time to reconsider adoption because maybe they acted too hastily or without thinking of the consequences of these actions. Irrational emotions could have played a part in giving up the child such as anger or frustration at the other parent leading to agreeing without fully acknowledging what they are giving up. There might be some who protest thirty days is too short a time to reclaim children but according to the law in Illinois currently, biological parents one year to decide if they want to try and overturn the courts decision. By this time, the child would have spent a large amount of time with it's new family and growing accustomed to living with them. Even in the cases of younger children who have been brought up only knowing their adoptive parents to be ripped away from their home and thrust back into the mix with a family they do not know and have no connections with seems irrational and can even cause emotional trauma in the child's developmental process.

Now even though the biological parents have a right to try and reclaim their children within the given thirty days, the adoptive parents have the right to sue the biological parents for the costs of the adoption process and emotional damages. In Illinois, if the biological parents were to reclaim their children then the adoptive parents would not see any compensation or return of the thousands of dollars (often exceeding over $10,000) spent trying to create a family. It seems a little unjust that people who spend countless hours going over adoption papers and spending thousands of dollars on attaining legal rights to create a family can have that taken away with no way to get back all the time, money, or dedication that was put into trying to create a loving and caring environment for the child. Although the adoptive parents may not receive emotional damages from the suit, it seems reasonable to expect the amount of money put into the adoption process to be returned or at least allowed for another adoption if the adoptive family wishes.

The solution we propose for this issue is as of January 9th of 2012, a law be enforced by the federal government stating there must be mutual consent from both biological parents for adoption to be legal. If a parent does not receive consent from the other parent then the adoption process cannot take place. If there is only one parent available due to external circumstances (i.e. death) then the adoption papers may have one parent's consent. If the parents are seperated or divorced, mutual consent must still be attained for the right to put the child(ren) up for adoption. If both parents consent is given then the biological parents have 30 days to reclaim their child(ren) and must include adoption papers and reasons for reclamation. The adoptive parents have the right to sue the biological parents for adoption expenses and possibly emotional damages or if they wish, have the right to have expenses for the adoption transferred to another adoption.