Asked in Family Law, Adoption, Child Custody and Juvenile Law for Tennessee

Q: I have had my son since I cut his cord. The birth mother ask me to take him and she wanted to sign her rights away

She does not know who the father was and has not seen my son in 19 months has let his state insurance end and been in and out of rehab. I am in the state of Tennessee how can I get emergency termination of parental rights and be granted soul custody of him so I can get his insurance and catch up his shots?

1 Lawyer Answer

A: Unfortunately, there is no easy answer and this is a terrible situation for you. My best advice is to consult an experienced adoption attorney immediately. if you have not already done so, you should start looking foe the biological mother ( you will want to find her so she can either sign papers letting you adopt the child or serve (deliver to) her court papers requesting the termination of her parental rights. This is too complicated to do yourself without an attorney, so don't try it- you could make things worse. You can request guardianship as part of the adoption request and the guardianship papers will allow your to handle the shots and healthcare issues.

Don't wait, things will only get worse if you ignore this problem.

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