Section 63-9-310 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, as amended, lists the individuals and agencies that are required to give consent to an adoption.   One of the individuals that is required to  consent to the adoption is “the adoptee, if over fourteen years of age, except where the court finds that the adoptee does not have the mental capacity to give consent, or that the best interests of the adoptee are served by not requiring consent ..read more

If an unmarried father wants to preserve his rights to a child that he may have fathered, it is important for him to register with the Responsible Father Registry as soon as possible. As of the date of this blog post, a father may register at the following address: South Carolina Responsible Fathers Registry The statute provides that “any claim of paternity filed with the registry is null and void if it is filed on or after the date a petition for termination of parental rights or a petition for adoption is filed.”  It is my practice to search the registry on the date I file a petition fo ..read more

https://www.courts.state.nh.us/probate/registrylist.pdf ..read more

I have been working with folks on adoption matters for some time now. One thing that I have learned that has benefited several of my clients is that gaining custody of a child that my clients are seeking to adopt is a more sound approach than attempting to adopt the child immediately. One specific reason to do this is when my clients’ have no legal rights to the child in the first place, which occurs when a parent, often the mother, is unable to care for a child for a variety of reasons and asks friends to care for the child. In this situation, it is much more common for the parent to be willi ..read more

The titled case determined that the plain meaning of section 63-9-60 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, as amended, affords standing to foster parents if they are South Carolina residents. I have linked to the titled case, and a case referred to as Youngblood to help the reader understanding standing and also to understand the nuance of statutes and case law. “We acknowledged in Youngblood that the foster care relationship is a temporary and contractual relationship created by the State, and we further noted foster care is “a temporary living arrangement … utilized while permanent placem ..read more

“The family court may order the termination of parental rights upon a finding of one or more of the following grounds and a finding that termination is in the best interest of the child: (2) The child has been removed from the parent pursuant to subarticle 3 or Section 63-7-1660 and has been out of the home for a period of six months following the adoption of a placement plan by court order or by agreement between the department and the parent and the parent has not remedied the conditions which caused the removal.” Most clients I have had the opportunity to represent tend to take longer than ..read more

This new list of priorities was established by Order of Supereme Court of South Carolina with Appellate Case No. 2015-001725 signed on 20 January 2016. In the event an attorney of record is called to appear simultaneously in actions pending in two or more tribunals of this State, the following list shall establish the priority of his obligations to those tribunals: (1) The Supreme Court. (2) The Court of Appeals. (3) The Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Commission on Lawyer Conduct, and the Committee on Character and Fitness. (4) The Family Court – merits hearings involving child abuse, chi ..read more

Even the simplest of adoptions require a person to have the knowledge of the processes and procedures needed to terminate the rights of the parent or parents and then establish the rights of the adoptive parent or parents. Each adoption process has many steps involved. I am often asked whether it is possible to do an adoption without an attorney. I respond that it is. I then tell them that it is also possible for me to run a marathon. Adoptions like marathons require a substantial amount of training to be done to completion and to be done correctly. I will not be running a marathon anytim ..read more

Artificial Insemination is mentioned one time in the South Carolina adoption statutes under the Responsible Father Registry statute.  The implication is that a father who consents to artificial insemination continues to have rights to the child and may preserve those rights by filing with the Responsible Father Registry. Section 63-9-820(L) of the South Carolina Code of Laws reads: An unmarried biological father’s failure to file a claim of paternity with the registry is deemed to be a lack of proper diligence under Section 63-9-770(B). An unmarried biological father’s lack of knowl ..read more

The service of the petition for termination of the parental rights must be served on a child if the child is fourteen years of age or older; and it must be served on the child’s guardian if the child is under the age of fourteen. The direct service on the child that is fourteen years of age or older seems to correlate with the requirement that a child that is fourteen years of age or older is required to consent to his or her adoption ..read more