ABA Family Legal Guide

Family Law

Children

Adoption

Can a biological mother revoke her consent to adoption?

Yes, but there are limits on her right to revoke consent. In most states, a biological mother who initially consents to a child's adoption before birth may revoke that consent after birth. In other words, the mother's consent is usually not final or binding until a certain period of time after birth. In most states, that time period is relatively short, such as two to eight days. If a biological mother consented to adoption during the proper period of time after birth, it is much harder for her to revoke her consent. Generally, following an after-birth consent, a biological mother may revoke her consent only if she can show that there was fraud or duress. Fraud could be found if the adoption agency or lawyer lied to the biological mother about the consequences of what she was doing. Duress might exist if a person at the adoption agency threatened the biological mother with humiliation if she did not sign. A biological mother's change of heart is not normally enough by itself to revoke an after-birth adoption consent. Although a mother may feel emotionally drained and under stress after the birth of a child that she plans to give up for adoption, that type of stress is not enough to revoke an adoption unless the relevant person or agency used harsh tactics to obtain the mother's consent.