Adopt: Ask Our Legal Expert: Diane Michelsen, Esquire

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Legal Expert ...(continued)

Question:
I recently recieved a letter from a woman who has been searching for a child she had 32 years ago. Her records do not match my birth certificate namly the state in which I am said to be born and the state in which she had the child are radiclly different. There the only things that matched were the exact date of birth and the date she claims she reliquished custody with the date my records indicated 'date recieved by local registrar' (not entirly sure what this means). Additionally the hour she claims her record show as the 'hour of birth' and mine match only as min and sec., ie...one being am and the other pm. Is it possible I was not born in the state my records indicate? Would someone have altered my time of birth by changing the am/pm?

Response from Diane Michelsen:
I suppose anything is possible, but this is not probable. For example, in the 40's and 50's in New York it was quite common to put the adoptive mom's name on the birth certificate as the birthing mom so that no one ever knew a child was adopted. However, I have never heard any "state switching". .. That would take a lot of collusion, since the new birth certificate is an amended copy of the old certificate and it is issued by the State where the child is born.

Question:
I have recently been SUCCESSFULLY reunited with my birthfamily. I had a distressing childhood with the adoptive parents who were abusive to me. I have since confronted them with a fellow therapist, I have an MSW & am currently a professional therapist, appropriately and have estranged myself from them. In the eyes of the law, however, I am still my adoptive parents child. I no longer want to be theirs, I want to be the child of my birth mother's and father's. They (the birth family want the same). When my adoptive parents die, I want nothing from them, not even notification! How can I do this?

Response from Diane Michelsen:

Your birth parents can do an adult adoption. In California, this does not require the consent of the "birth" parents. Other states may have other requirements. If this is a CA adoption, the adoption may take place in the county of the adopting parents(your birthparents) or the adoptee.

Question:
My daughter recently gave up her little baby in an open adoption.We didn't find out our daughter was pregnant until 3 weeks before the child was born and our daugher would not allow us to interfere in any way with the adoption. We did not have any luck trying to change her mind. As far as my daughter is concerned we are not even grandparents. What I would like to know is if we have any legal rights in regards to this baby- mainly to receive pictures and information about the baby and for the baby to know who we are as she grows. We do not want to interfere in the baby's life or in the adoption. We would just like to know how she is doing and that she has a birth family who loves her. Thank you.ng if there is a way to legally change her date of birth.

Response from Diane Michelsen:
If the adoption took place in California, the grandparents have no rights to contact or visitation etc. However, if their daughter would allow the grandparents to write to the adopting couple after the adoption was completed, perhaps the adopting parents would welcome this information and connection for the child as he or she grows.

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