| Do we need a “John Doe” if there is a court order saying who the Father is? | Getting a Consent and Relinquishment outside South Carolina? |
When professionals who work around adoptions talk about a Consent and Relinquishment they are talking about a document or documents which a birth parent signs to voluntarily relinquish his or her parental rights to a child and to consent to that child being adopted.
There are certain requirements for a Consent and Relinquishment to be valid in South Carolina. These requirements address both the contents of the documents they sign as well as the procedures that they go through in signing the documents and having them witnessed.
After a Consent and Relinquishment is signed by a birth parent, the Consent and Relinquishment is later submitted to a Family Court Judge at a hearing who will determine whether or not the birth parent voluntarily signed the document, whether the document was properly executed and whether the document contained the necessary information.
If the Consent and Relinquishment is determined to have been given voluntarily, contains the necessary information and was properly executed the court will accept it and terminate the biological parent’s parental rights to the child based upon their Consent and Relinquishment.