LEGAL NOTICES

Legal notices are a little-known, but extremely valuable, source of information in many searches, especially for birth parents and adoptees. A legal notice is basically an announcement of an event or legal action that must be printed in a newspaper to meet the area's requirements of the law. Legal notices are public proclamations appearing in newspapers in compliance with a statutory or judicial mandate requiring their publication. Their purpose is to make an announcement of some sort to interested parties.

Though their formats are generally much the same, they are extremely varied so far as the messages they convey are concerned. Many types of legal actions (such as foreclosures, judgments, liens, etc.) require this kind of published announcement, but the two that directly relate to searching are:

(1) the notice of adoption
(2) the termination of parental rights.

The notice of adoption, sometimes referred to as a "citation of adoption," or a "notice of adoption," normally includes the full names of the adoptive parents and the birth name of the adoptee (usually "baby boy/girl" plus the original last name).

The second type of legal notice required in a related legal action, referred to as a "termination of parental rights proceeding," is also called an "abandonment citation" in some areas. In most cases, this will reveal the full birth name of the adoptee and the names of the birth parents.

Depending on who you are looking for, it is easy to see how finding this kind of information early in your search can make your job a lot easier. The only "catch" is that legal notices are not required by every state. In some areas, it even varies by county and year. If the birth and adoption took place in two different counties/states, you will want to check them both.

ADOPTION PROCEEDINGS

There is no fixed pattern throughout the country as regards publication of adoption citations. More than half the states have traditionally made no provision whatsoever for legal notices in adoption proceedings. The rest have chosen either to make some form of notice mandatory with every adoption, or to have some form of notice usually accompany an adoption, or to provide a judge presiding over an adoption with the option of requiring that notice of the proceeding be published. Finally, some states may have required publication of these notices for a number of years and then dropped the practice.
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Generally, legal notices are required to be published in a "newspaper of general circulation." Depending on individual state requirements, this usually means a county legal paper; although, they sometimes appear in public newspapers as well. The fastest way to find out.
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(1) if legal notices were required in a particular county/year, and.
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(2) where they were published, is to contact a public or legal librarian and/or county clerk in the area where the event took place. In addition to pointing you in the right direction, sometimes if you are nice, they will even do a little of the legwork for you. .
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Still, where these notices do appear, they are guaranteed to brighten many a searcher's day. Though their contents tend to be dominated by technical considerations, they typically also contain the names of prospective adoptive parents and the birth names of prospective adoptees, although this may be limited to a "baby boy" or "baby girl" and a surname. As a result, an adoptee in search, who will obviously know his or her adoptive parents' names, will be able to readily identify the last name of a birth parent, generally the birth mother. .
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TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS PROCEEDINGS

Every state domestic relations code throughout the country makes some provision for the extinction of parental rights in children, ostensibly for reasons of child abuse, parental unfitness, and the like. Though these laws are universally well intended, ample evidence exists to show that they have often been applied in a discriminatory and unwarranted fashion against poverty-stricken parents merely on the basis of their poverty.

Termination of parental rights proceedings are usually initiated by municipal departments entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the welfare of children residing within its jurisdiction. As perhaps a sign of an uneasy bureaucratic conscience, the action has been frequently described as an "abandonment" proceeding, thus conveying the impression of parents deserting their children, rather than losing a child custody battle with civic authority.

In contrast to the irregular appearance of adoption citations, legal notices are a routine part of actions taken to terminate parental rights. "Abandonment" citations commonly order that persons with an interest in the proceeding -- such as one or both of the child's parents, if they have been previously unavailable, or grandparents, and aunts and uncles -- to appear in a designated court at a given date and time. Failure to appear typically results in the loss of familial rights by default.

ADOPTION LAWS LEGAL RESOURCES for New Mexico Adoption Law Library
In New Mexico, confidential adoption records are available only by court order.

New Mexico Law In New Mexico, confidential adoption records are available only by court order.Since 1950 all adoption records have been sealed upon becoming final. A Court Order is required to release any information from them. The state adoption department will release non-identifying information to an adult (age 18) involved party.

New Mexico is not an open state, meaning that all records are sealed. They are not available to the adult adoptee, birth parents, or the adoptive parents. Because so many would like to know more about their heritage and birth parents would like to know how a child has gotten along in life, a system has been worked out with the District Court to allow this to be accomplished.

An INTERMEDIARY system has been put into place so that an adult adoptee, a birth parent of a child 18 years of age or older, or a sibling of an adopted person who is 18 years can petition the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico in Santa Fe to have the adoption file opened. In order to do this you need to have a lawyer. You may either hire your own lawyer or use the lawyer who is working with the program. The Attorney at Law who works with Operation Identity does this for a reasonable fee. Because she does so much of this work she knows the system.

Whether you decide to use the services of this lawyer or hire your own attorney, this is the PROCEDURE that must be followed. You must write a letter to an attorney to explain that you wish to petition the Court for your adoption file. If there is any of the required information that you do not have, explain that in this letter. The lawyer will need the following facts:

1. Your adoptive name. If you are a birth parent, your child's name at birth; if you are a sibling, your sibling's name at birth.

2. The date and the place of birth, i.e., City and State.

3. The adoptive parents names. They will not be contacted if you are an adult, but an adoptee's file is archived under the adoptive parents name. It is also cross referenced under the birth mother's name. So if you are the birth parent or the sibling, let the attorney know what name you used at the the time of birth.

4. The County in which the adoption was finalized. It should have been in the County where the adoptive parents lived at the time of the adoption.

5. The intermediary System has been explained to you.

You should send this letter with a check to cover the fees to the lawyer. The total cost for the lawyer and the court filing fee is $250.00. If you choose to use your own lawyer the fee probably will be more.

After the court issues the Order to have the file opened, the Order will be sent to the Children, Youth, and Families Department, Adoptive Services Unit. They will obtain the file and forward it on to a court appointed intermediary to be reviewed and prepared for searching.

When your Intermediary contacts you to inform you that they are ready to do the search, they will usually request three items from you:

1. If you wish, a picture of yourself and your family.

2. A letter to the person you are searching for, telling them a little bit about yourself and why you want to be in touch with them.

3. A fee of $100.00 which is authorized by the Court for the expenses that are incurred while doing the search. NOTE: This only covers the actual cost of the search, the intermediary is voluntary and not paid

When the Intermediary gets these things she will begin to work on completing your case as quickly as possible. Some cases are completed very quickly and some take longer than others. If the person that you are searching for is deceased, your Intermediary will attempt to obtain a Death Certificate to prove to the Court that your relative is deceased and you will usually then be allowed to have the complete file.

When your Intermediary has located the person, they will attempt to contact them and inform them of you. If after three attempts of contact they do not choose to sign the consent form needed to release their information, the Intermediary MUST then send the file back to the Court and the case will be closed. Currently one CI, through Operation Identity, has a 98% success rate. Going into this, you must consider that the person your are searching for may not choose to have contact at this time in their life. It is not a personal rejection because you cannot reject something you don't know. One can however reject a very unpleasant time in their life that they have tried to put behind them. It doesn't happen often but you need to consider the possiblity.

When the person located signs the Consent of Release, your Intermediary will make the necessary arrangements to put you in contact with your relative. Also, if you go through Operation Identity, they will help you in any way possible to prepare for this soon to be emotional reunion. You can request the particular CI that you wish to have handle your case.

All of the Intermediaries in New Mexico are volunteers. They receive no salary for the work they do. There is no office that they work from, they work out of their homes. It is more difficult to run the program this way but it also means a lower cost to those who are searching because they are not paying the overhead to run an office.

For additional information you can write to:
Isabel Garcia, Adoption Consultant, Children, Youth and Families Department,
P.E.R.A. Building, Room 252,
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502-5160
505-827-8410.

In writing or calling her, for best results, be VERY specific with your questions to her.

Return To The Home Page Of: New Mexico Adoption Registry ~ http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Woods/8681/index.html

Return To The Home Page Of: New Mexico Adoption Registry ~ http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Woods/8681/index.html