Nebraska mothers sometimes try to give their babies up for adoption without first obtaining permission from the father. However, fathers do have inherent parental rights — if they can establish paternity — and if this kind of situation has happened to you, you might be able to take legal action to fight for the custody of your child.
In one recent case, a 33-year-old father has been trying to gain custody of 7-month-old twins who he fathered unknowingly and — unbeknownst to him — were put up for adoption. The man knew that the twins were born, but the mother told him that she had DNA testing performed on the babies to determine that another man was the father. Later, the father discovered that the mother was telling other people that he was indeed the father but she didn’t want him to find out.
Following Christmas 2016, the mother admitted to the father that he was the father. However, the children had already been separated and adopted out to different parents. Now, the father is trying to get his babies back.
That said, the adoption trail is a complicated web of friends, relatives, multiple adoption agencies and multiple state laws. For example, although the twins were born in Florida, one of them is currently being raised by a Nebraska couple. The legal hurdles he’s up against in his efforts to reunite his twins are immense, and he’s created the GoFundMe account “Devastated Dad Fighting for Twins” in order to raise money to pay for his legal fees.
Nebraska fathers who have children born out of wedlock do have paternal rights, but those rights may need to be asserted in court. If you are trying to get child custody rights, or even just visitation rights, and you’re facing resistance, an Omaha family law attorney may be able to help.
Source: SF Gate, “Mom gives up custody of twins without dad’s permission,” Jan. 21, 2017