Birth Mother Bill Of Rights

You Have The Right To…

1. Consider adoption as an option free from pressure or coercion.
2. Create an adoption plan that fits your needs.
3. Choose the parents who will adopt your child, know their names, religion, etc., and even meet them.
4. Place your child for adoption through an adoption agency or private adoption.
5. Make a written open adoption agreement, which allows you to share pictures and letters and might allow you to see and talk to the child after the adoption. This is a moral agreement and cannot be enforced in all states.
6. Name your child on his or her first birth certificate. The name can be changed by the adoptive parents on the second birth certificate issued after the final adoption.
7. Your own attorney paid for by the adoptive parents.
8. Make a choice for counseling. Counseling remains available for up to six months following placement.
9. Financial help with certain reasonable and actual expenses.
10. Financial help is available following placement and must be approved by a judge.
11. Deliver at the hospital of your choice.
12. Create a birth plan that fits your needs. You also have the right to change your birth plan at the hospital.
13. See or not see your child before you place him or her for adoption. This includes spending time with the child at the hospital.
14. Change your mind about the adoption at any time before you sign a consent before the judge.
15. Receive a copy of the surrender form and any other forms you sign.

This document is intended as general information. For specific information, please contact our agency. Modeled after the Tennessee Birth Parent Bill of Rights by Dawn Coppock, Attorney-at-law. All rights reserved.