Frequently Asked Questions

Your options counselor will discuss help you explore all of your options and will support you no matter what decision you make. If you choose to make a plan of adoption for your child, Utah law requires at least 24 hours after the birth of a child before final adoption papers can be signed. Once they are signed, you cannot change your mind and the decision is final. This is why it is important to explore all of your options and to take as much time as you need to think about your decision.

It is your decision. Many expectant parents find comfort in choosing the adoptive family, interviewing them, and getting to know them before placement. Others prefer to have the agency choose a family. Your options counselor will discuss the process with you. Children’s Service Society conducts criminal and child abuse background checks and an extensive home study on every adoptive family.

You are the parent of the child until you sign the final adoption paperwork. So, at the hospital you can spend as much or as little time as you wish with the child. You can make all the decisions regarding medical care, etc. up until you sign. Before you sign you and the adoptive family can agree to what level of openness you would like to have after you sign. Most adoptions today have some level of openness because research shows openness is helpful for the child’s identity development. Openness is on a spectrum and can be semi open with just letters and pictures being exchanged through an intermediary such as our agency, or it can be very open where you have exchanged full identifying information with each other and meet in person regularly. Most open adoptions include 2-4 visits a year in person with letters/texts/pictures being shared in between visits. Every open adoption relationship is different. Our counselors can help you navigate this relationship.

This depends on a few things. If you are married, your legal husband has the rights to the child whether he is the biological father or not. He must be notified. He may or may not give his consent to the adoption, but he has the right to be notified. Every state has different birth father laws and the laws in the state which he resides must be followed. In Utah, the expectant mother has the right to privacy and can choose whether or not she discloses the name of the biological father. Children’s Service Society will conduct a Putative Father Search to ensure that if the birth father has claimed paternity, his rights are protected. Children’s Service Society will work with you and ensure that all legal requirements are met throughout your experience. We believe every child has the right to know their invaluable medical and social information from both birth parents so we strive to involve both birth parents in this very important decision. Your counselor can help you discuss all of your options with the father.

If you are a father:

According to Utah law (78B-6-102), an unmarried mother has a right to privacy with regard to her pregnancy and an adoption plan, and has no legal obligation to disclose the identity of the biological father before or during an adoption. However, Children’s Service Society feels that it is best practice to include the expectant (birth) father in an adoption plan whenever this is possible. Our options counselors are happy to facilitate counseling with him as well as a birth mother. A birth father’s involvement in an adoption plan not only makes the adoption legally secure, but input on his medical history and his feelings about the child and the adoption is extremely valuable to the adoptive parents, and to the adoptee once they are grown.

If you are an unmarried man and want to have a legal claim in what happens to your unborn child, it is your responsibility to file for paternity for the child with the Utah Department of Health Office of Vital Records. Information and instructions for claiming paternity can be found here. Filing for paternity is not the only step you need to take, however. It is also your legal obligation to demonstrate a timely and full commitment to the responsibility of parenthood, both during the pregnancy and after a child’s birth. This could include such things as paying for medical bills and being a physical and emotional support to the mother during pregnancy. For more complete information about your legal rights, please contact an attorney who specializes in paternity issues or adoption.

For additional information, please visit the Paternity Matters website at http://www.paternitymatters.utah.gov/

Temporary living expenses related to the pregnancy and birth of the child are available as needed. If you make a plan of adoption, your medical expenses that are not already covered by your insurance will be taken care of for you and the baby. Children’s Service Society will provide you with information regarding the assistance allowable by Utah law.

The adoptive family receives non-identifying information regarding your medical and health history, background, personality, and interests. They will be educated on how to answer the child’s questions about you in the future. You may also choose to share other information with the family and if you have an open adoption, you can have ongoing contact which can include sharing updated medical and social information as you wish.

You can continue to meet with your counselor for grief and loss counseling as Children’s Service Society provides ongoing support for birth parents. You will be given information on support groups and can continue to have contact with the adoptive family and child if you have agreed to an open adoption. CSS is here to provide support to both you and the family after the adoption should any issues arise with communication in the open adoption.

We offer free options counseling.  We can help with private, independent, and agency adoptions.  Call or text us at 801-656-8527.  Email at admin@cssutah.org.