My HUSBAND wants to adopt my SON
Dear Mrs Macaulay,
I cannot comment definitively about the assurance of your mother-in-law, that as her son’s wife you will automatically be qualified upon the filing. This is not my area of expertise. I do know, however, that she is correct about the situation of your son.It seems that you are not too sure about the biological father’s reaction. You clearly have and have had de facto custody and care and control of your son, I presume since his birth. You have asked certain questions about the consequences of adoption, which I shall now attempt to answer.If your son is adopted by your husband, your son’s surname could be changed, or your husband could decide to merely add his own name to the existing ones. This is a matter for you to decide upon as a family. Generally, in order to save the child possible unease caused by too many questions by his peers about why his name differs from that of his father, the surname is changed to that of his adoptive father.Upon completion of the adoption process, the biological father will no longer have any legal or de facto parental rights or obligations towards his child. He would have given all rights and obligations over to your husband. This does not mean that you cannot ensure that a relationship continues between them, but all legal rights, claims and obligations of the biological dad will pass to your husband.Finally, you ask whether there is any other way to enable your mother-in-law to also file for your son. I can answer this in the affirmative, based on previous experiences of mine in my practice. This is as long as there have been no changes in procedures and requirements regarding the immigration requirements of a child. You can, of course, check whether legal guardians are permitted to migrate with their charges.So here goes: Firstly, you should make legal your custody, care and control of your child, and have your husband join in the application and include an application that he be appointed your son’s legal guardian.But you must first speak with your son’s father and fully put him in the picture about the plans, and explain that you would like his consent and agreement for your husband and yourself to have joint custody of his son, with access to him (as you all agree and specify) and also that your husband be appointed his son’s legal guardian. Explain that by doing it this way, his status as father is preserved, and your son can also migrate with you and your husband under the auspices of your mother-in-law’s filing for him. This must be done in the Supreme Court, by the way.You will also be far better off going this route, because the process from application to the appointment of legal guardian and the making of the joint custody, care and control orders will be completed long before an adoption application is granted, even if your son’s biological father consents.You should immediately discuss the entire matter with your son’s father, and once you have assured him that he will not be losing his son and will have continued access, you then need to retain the services of an attorney to act for you and your husband in making your joint application.Good luck to all of you, and all happiness in your future life.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.
DISCLAIMER:
The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.
