The Florida adoption process requires the consent of both parents in most situations. If one parent doesn’t want to put their child up for adoption, then they usually have the legal right to keep their child.
Paternal rights
Biological fathers have parental rights just as the biological mothers do. A father would have to sign an official document giving up his parental rights for the child to be eligible for adoption.
Fathers who were in a marriage with the mother at the time of the child’s conception or birth have the right to parenting the child. Florida’s family laws also protect the rights of fathers to their adopted children. They would have to give up parental rights for a new parent to adopt their adopted child.
If a man’s name is on the child’s birth certificate, then the state requires his consent for another person to adopt the child. Unmarried men need to provide an acknowledgement in writing that they are the biological father. This written acknowledgement needs the signature of a competent witness. Fathers must also file them with Office of Vital Statistics of the Department of Health.
Exceptions
There are some exceptions to these rules. If the father is an unfit parent, then the court may waive his right to parenting the child, which would mean you don’t need his consent to adopt the child. Incarcerated fathers may also lose their parental rights when they are in prison for too long. Fathers who have endangered the health and well-being of their child or a sibling of their child could lose parental rights. Abandoning a child also often results in a court waiving the parent’s right to reject an adoption.