Mother and stepfather petitioned for termination of the biological father’s parental rights. They wanted to adopt the child together. The Circuit Court terminated the biological father’s parental rights. This was based on the biological father’s failure to register with the putative father registry. The biological father appealed.
The Appellate Court saw that the biological father’s name was on the child’s birth certificate as the father. This amounted to a written acknowledgment of parentage. The biological father’s consent to the adoption was required.
The Illinois Adoption Act, provides, in pertinent part:
Ҥ 8. Consents to adoption and surrenders for purposes of adoption.
(a) Except as hereinafter provided in this Section consents or surrenders shall be required in all cases, unless the person whose consent or surrender would otherwise be required shall be found by the court:
(1) to be an unfit person as defined in Section 1 of this Act, by clear and convincing evidence; or
(2) * * *
(3) to have waived his parental rights to the child under Section 12a or 12.1 of this Act
[.]”
In Re Reyes, 369 Ill.App.3d 150
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