In Matter of Female Infant B., an infant's biological mother sought to regain custody of her child after initially relinquishing her rights to adoptive parents.
The mother, an immigrant from the Republic of Georgia, had left behind her husband and three children. After her Georgian husband divorced her in 2001, she remarried. In 2003, she became pregnant from an extramarital affair, attempted to abort the pregnancy, but was seven months pregnant.
Introduced to a couple looking to adopt, the eventual adoptive parents offered the mother a Manhattan apartment for the remainder of her pregnancy. Nine days after giving birth, the woman signed a "surrender agreement" which acknowledged she understood the document and that she had only 45 days to revoke the arrangement.
The birth mother alleged when she later met with the adoptive parents (in order to meet with the infant) she was threatened with deportation. She further claimed to have made a number of phone calls to the adoptive parents' home and left gifts at their door for the child. The adoptive parents refuted that version of the facts, and claimed it was the birth mother who threatened to "kidnap the baby unless [the adoptive parents] helped her get her other children out of Georgia."
Even though the New York County Family Court found the surrender agreement defective -- since the mother was unaware that even if she tried to revoke the agreement within 45 days there was no guarantee the baby would be returned to her -- the court was of the opinion that it was in the child's best interests to remain with the adoptive parents.
Notwithstanding the agreement's defects, on appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, determined the birth mother's "inactivity for 30 months estopped her from opposing the adoption."
Other than a few phone calls, the birth mother "took no subsequent steps to revoke her consent, or even to seek visitation." She provided no financial or other support for the baby.
The appellate court further concluded that permitting the birth mother to revoke the surrender agreement was "clearly not" in the child's best interest, and believed the infant shouldn't be taken from the only family she had ever known.
Why do we have a Georgian on our mind?
To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Matter of Female Infant B.,