The rule is clear. A consent to adoption form is not equal to a surrender of parental rights. To have any meaning, section 10(A) of the Adoption Act must be read to provide for irrevocable consent to a specific adoption only. Samuel E. was adopted by Ann. This was done with the international adoption process. [...]
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 [...]
Mother died. Mother and her child had lived with maternal grandmother. Child was a one year old. Mother died in a car accident. The law is clear: upon the death of the custodial parent, “the minor child will then be considered to be in the physical custody of the surviving natural parent,” even if the [...]
A same-sex partner, Jenny, filed a petition for visitation. The child was the child of her former partner. The parties had acted as co-parents of the child for approximately seven years. Their romantic relationship ended two years after the child’s birth. They continued to act as co-parents. Jenny claimed that she continued to maintain [...]
Father filed in parentage court. He wanted custody, visitation, and child support from Mother. He said that he had adopted his former fiancee’s daughter, when he and fiancée were together. She had adopted the orphan child from Slovakia. Father could not adopt then, as the parties were not married and he was not a [...]
The parties, James and Maria, lived together, and never married. Maria adopted a child, Scarlett. James had never formally adopted the child, but the parties had discussed it. The parties had lived together with the child for several years. They saw themselves as a legally-bound family unit. The parties broke up, and James went to [...]