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Case Studies

Women whose parental rights have been terminated by the court

The story of AH is illustrative of what happens to many women. AH’s son was only one month old when AH was sentenced to prison for a term of eight years. After many months of thought, AH decided to allow her brother-in-law and sister adopt her son so that he would have a safe and secure place to live. In addition, by having family adopt the child AH would still have some contact with him and would be able to watch him grow up. AH signed the paperwork from social services thinking that everything would be fine.

Some months passed, AH received letters from her brother-in-law and pictures of the baby on a regular basis, everything seemed to be going well. Then AH learned that her son had been removed from the brother-in-law’s home due to reports of possible abuse. AH immediately contacted the child’s social worker to find out what would happen to her son. Unfortunately, AH learned that because she had signed paperwork stating that she would relinquish her parental rights so family could adopt the child, she could not “undo” that decision. Even though AH was able to have an attorney appear on her behalf, the court upheld the termination of her parental rights. AH then appealed the court’s decision to proceed with the adoption by non-family members but to no avail.