Many people who are not ready for children may decide that putting their child up for adoption is their best option. Depending on the circumstances, when a mother decides to put her child up for adoption, the father has no choice but to go along with her decision. However, there are some fathers who will do what they can to prevent the adoption from occurring and gain custody of their child.
When two people are expecting a child together, but they are not married, it can present difficulties for the father; the most important being their ability to exercise their rights as a father. What this means is that if a father fails to establish paternity, the mother can put the child up for adoption and the father can do nothing about it.
Should a mother decide that she does not want to keep the child and wants to put him or her up for adoption, if the father has established paternity, they can prevent this from happening. Since it is obvious that the mother does not want to take responsibility for the child, if the father does, the courts may award him custody. However, along with establishing paternity, the father must show that he is committed to being the child’s parent, and that could mean supporting the mother during pregnancy and proving that he is actually able to support the child before he will be able to exercise his parental rights and object to the child being adopted.
Even though a mother may not want to raise her child, it doesn’t mean that the biological father feels the same way. Any father who would like to establish paternity of their son or daughter should do so in a timely manner. It will affect whether the child will be able to be adopted and your ability to have custody of your child.