Sometimes when we need to do an adoption, a birth parent is not located in the state of South Carolina. If the parent is living outside of South Carolina, but is willing to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights and consent to an adoption, we can still obtain a valid Consent and Relinquishment from them.
This scenario happens often enough that the South Carolina legislature included a specific provision in our adoption laws for dealing with Consents and Relinquishments obtained outside the state of South Carolina. South Carolina Code Section 20-7-1705(4) tells us exactly what must be done when a birth parent wishes to sign a Consent and Relinquishment outside of South Carolina for an adoption in South Carolina.
20-7-1705 (4) addresses both the procedures for signing Consents and Relinquishments outside of South Carolina and the contents of the documents.
First, the document has to be witnessed by 2 people one of which must be (a) an attorney licensed in that state, (b) someone designated by an agency of that state, (c) someone authorized by that state’s laws to take consents or relinquishment or to do adoption investigations or (d) a qualified resident of that state authorized by a South Carolina court to witness the document.
Secondly , the document must either substantially comply with the South Carolina statute governing the contents of Consents and Relinquishments or, in situations when the person signing is a resident of the state where the document is being signed, the document meets the legal requirements for Consents and Relinquishments of the state where it is being signed.
First of all great post I just wanted to know on if you could write another post to go a bit further into detail on the topic? This one was great but I would love to hear more!