Voluntary termination of parental rights occurs when parents are unable to care for their child and can be part of an adoption plan or state care. Governments can establish controls to prevent exploitation. Parents sign forms to give up their child for adoption or allow a stepparent to adopt. In some cases, parents may be encouraged to sign a waiver if they cannot provide a safe home or afford their child’s care. Safeguards are in place to prevent abuse of the system.
When the parents of a child decide that they are no longer able to take care of their child or children, they can accept the voluntary termination of parental rights. The process of terminating parental rights may occur as part of a plan to adopt the child or it may be a consequence of the decision to hand over care of the child to the state. Children are typically left in state care when their parents are unfit, unready, or unable to provide for them or because a child has overwhelming physical or psychological needs that his or her parents are unable to meet. . In cases where voluntary termination of parental rights is required, individual governments can establish certain controls and safeguards to prevent such action from being taken in a hasty, exploitative or inappropriate manner.
When a parent plans to give their child up for adoption, they will usually be required to sign a voluntary termination of parental rights. For example, if two young people suffer an unplanned pregnancy and decide to give up their child for adoption, both will terminate their parental rights by signing the forms prescribed by their local government. In cases where a child’s parents are no longer together and a parent is willing to allow a stepparent to adopt their child, a similar process will take place, except that only one parent has actually revoked her rights .
While the policy of many governments is to preserve families, there are cases where it is obvious that parents are unable to provide a safe and decent home for their children. If, even after many attempts by social services, parents are unable to meet appropriate parenting standards, they can be encouraged to sign a voluntary waiver of parental rights so that their children can be adopted. Alternatively, if a child has very complex special needs and their parents are unable to afford their care, they may have to end their parental rights in order for the child to go to court to receive the care they need.
Due to past and current abuses in the childcare and adoption systems, there have been instances where parents have been forced to undergo a supposedly voluntary termination of parental rights due to the effort of overzealous social workers or employees of adoption agencies. In some cases, local law may provide biological parents with a so-called reflection period after signing the termination of parental rights. The law may also require that a parent be advised of their specific rights under the law or given the opportunity for independent legal counsel. Judges in some cases may wish to investigate the circumstances of the termination of parental rights before granting or ordering an adoption.
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