Epic win for a three year old little boy who narrowly misses being lost to adoption!

[pnwmom]

141. I agree. It looks like he'll be a good father, but if he'd acted sooner he could have blocked

the adoption and spared everyone some misery.

Missouri law requires notice for putative fathers, which he acknowledges having gotten from the agency. After that, the obligation was on him to follow through. He's lucky it worked out for him, but he could have saved everyone a lot of grief by taking positive action in March, six months before his baby was born. By law, the agency has to check the Putative Registry before they can conclude the adoption.

Missouri law says that a putative father is a husband; or a man who positively asserts his paternity (which he didn't do -- he said that IF was the father he'd want custody); and/or a man who signs up with the Putative Father registry.

Also, this whole "epic story" didn't take 3 years. The adopted parents lost custody within 10 months. What just happened in December was that the bio mother lost joint custody with the father and now only has visitation.

What really galls me is all the anger about the adopted parents. They adopted the boy with legal documentation reviewed by a lawyer; they worked with a licensed agency; and they didn't receive notice of either a paternity action or the father's name on the Putative Father Registry. The father's time limit to take such an action was 15 days after the birth, so from their perspective all the papers were in order. How were they supposed to know that there was a biological father who wanted to claim the baby?

http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/chapters/chap453.htm

3. With the exceptions specifically enumerated in section 453.040, when the person sought to be adopted is under the age of eighteen years, the written consent of the following persons shall be required and filed in and made a part of the files and record of the proceeding:

(1) The mother of the child; and

(2) Only the man who:

(a) Is presumed to be the father pursuant to the subdivision (1), (2), or (3) of subsection 1 of section 210.822; or

(b) Has filed an action to establish his paternity in a court of competent jurisdiction no later than fifteen days after the birth of the child and has served a copy of the petition on the mother in accordance with section 506.100; or

(c) Filed with the putative father registry pursuant to section 192.016 a notice of intent to claim paternity or an acknowledgment of paternity either prior to or within fifteen days after the child's birth, and has filed an action to establish his paternity in a court of competent jurisdiction no later than fifteen days after the birth of the child