Adoption Stats

I’ve come across so many people recently who complain about the adoption laws here in the U.S. I complain about them too, but their complaints are completely opposite of mine. They say first parents have too much time to change their minds. They are convinced the laws are on our side instead of theirs. I almost laughed the first time I heard this. So, here’s my version of a reality check.

Only 28 states ( Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia ) have a waiting period before the mother is allowed to sign consent forms.

Of those 28 states, only 20 ( Arizona, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia )have a waiting period of 72 hours or longer after birth for the first mother.

A mere 15 states (Alabama, Alaska, District of Columbia, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington) have some kind of revocation period.

Two states (Alabama, Hawaii) actually allow consents to be signed before the birth of the child.

A disturbing 15 states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Wyoming) have basically no protective provisions set in place for first parents.

To top it off, 26 states (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming) have putative father registries which allow for easy termination of father’s rights without his consent or even his knowledge.

Why are a lot of legislators refusing to put in place more laws? They say it will deter a lot of people from adopting, which they don’t want. I find this strange. I would think that adoptive parents would want to make sure the child they got was freely and voluntarily given to them. I also think putting in place more protection would definitely decrease the incidence of long, drawn out custody battles. I think that’s about the closest thing anyone is going to get to a win-win-win situation in adoption.