Under Minnesota adoption law, in most circumstances, the biological parents a child must give their consent if their child will be adopted by someone else.

Parental consent is required unless one of the following exceptions are met:

• A parent is not entitled to notice under Minnesota law;
• A parent has abandoned the child or children as defined by Minnesota law;
• A parent whose parental rights to the child or children have been terminated by a juvenile court or who has lost custody of a child through a prior juvenile or adoption court order;
• If there is no qualified parent or guardian to give consent, then the consent may be obtained by a qualified commissioner;
• If the child or children are being placed by the commissioner or adoptive agency who have authority to place the child for adoption, the commissioner or agency shall have exclusive right to consent to the adoption.

Assuming a Minnesota resident cannot meet the above exceptions, then parental consent will be required.   Therefore, lets discuss some of the requirements of parental consent in Minnesota adoptions.

Parental Consent for Adoption in Minnesota

There are certain timing requirements to all parental consents for adoptions.  Minnesota Statute 259.24 tells us that a parent cannot consent to the adoption of a child until 72 hours after the birth of the child.

This means that the child must be born and a proposed adoptive parent must wait three days after the child is born to obtain parental consent and then petition a Minnesota court to adopt the child.

Furthermore, if a child is placed in an adoptive home soon after birth, the biological parent must give their consent not later than 60 days.  This means that the proposed adoptive parents need to be aware that consents are important and must be obtained within certain, lawful time-frames.

Additionally, unless both birth parents are going to consent to the adoption, then the birth parent who is consenting must give notice to the other birth parent of his or her consent within 72 hours following the placement of the child.  The birth parent who receives such a notice will then have 60 days after the placement of the child to either consent or refuse to consent to the adoption.  If such a birth parent receives proper notice and fails to take either action, that parent will be deemed ot have irrevocably consents to the child or children’s adoption.

Service of Notice of Adoption and Age Requirements for Minnesota Adoptions

Service of the notice is also important and is something you should talk to a qualified Minnesota adoption attorney about.  According to Minnesota law, the prospective adoptive parents must provide notice to birth parents as provided by the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure for serving a Summons and Complaint. This means that very formal legal requirements must be followed and failure to do so could nullify the adoption proceeding.

Finally, if the child is over 14 years of age, then his or her consent (or the consent of a guardian) must be obtained.  Similarly, if the person to be adopted is an adult.

Form and Execution of Consent to Minnesota Adoptions

All consents to an adoption in Minnesota “shall be in writing, executed before two competent witnesses, and acknowledged by the consenting party.”

Furthermore, all consents for adoption made by a birth parent:

(1) shall contain notice to the parent which we discussed previously.  The notice shall also state that the birth parent has the the right to withdraw his or her consent – unless the parent will not have the right to withdraw the consent.

(2) shall contain the following written notice in all capital letters at least one-eighth inch high:

“This agency will submit your consent to adoption to the court. The consent itself does not terminate your parental rights. Parental rights to a child may be terminated only by an adoption decree or by a court order terminating parental rights. Unless the child is adopted or your parental rights are terminated, you may be asked to support the child.”

Consents for an adoption in Minnesota can be filed at any time before the matter is heard by a judge.

Withdrawal of Consent for Adoption

Except for certain circumstances, a birth parent’s consent for adoption may be withdrawn by a parent for any reason, within 10 working days after the consent is executed an acknowledged.

If the 10 day time-period has passed, the birth parent’s consent becomes irrevocable unless a court finds that such consent was obtained by fraud.

If a party asks the court to decide on the issue of fraud, the adoptive parents and the child or children must be made parties to the proceeding.

Finally, a guardian of a child shall not unreasonably withhold consent for the adoption of a child.