In most cases, the answer is “No.” Expectant mothers and birth mothers have asked us, at Adoption Attorneys Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. (“Kirsh & Kirsh”), this question from one end of Indiana to the other — from New Albany, Sellersburg, Clarksville to Gary, Hammond, Valparaiso; from Vincennes, Jasper, Huntingburg, and Evansville to Auburn, Angola, Huntington, Ft. Wayne; and from Indianapolis, Muncie, New Castle, Seymour, and Richmond to Terre Haute, Sullivan, Greenfield, Danville. For those birth mothers in Indiana, the Indiana Adoption laws – statutes and cases — allow a woman not to identify the father of baby unless the father of the baby has formally established paternity by means of a paternity affidavit or a legal proceeding called a paternity action or she is married to the father of the baby. In our 35+ years of experience handling adoptions throughout Indiana, we rarely see “legal” fathers, those men who have established legal paternity of the child or who are married to the mother of the baby. Most of the men involved in newborn adoptions in Indiana are unwed fathers – in other words, not married to the expectant mother of the baby.
Under Indiana law, the mother of the child does not have to involve or even identify the father of the baby. If she does not, the father of the baby must register with the Putative Father Registry in Indiana prior to filing a petition for adoption or 30 days from birth, whichever occurs first, in order to receive notice of the adoption. Neither the birth mother, the adoption agency, nor the attorney for the adoptive parents must inform the father of the baby of an adoption, the birth of the baby, or even the pregnancy.
We, at Kirsh & Kirsh, have assisted numerous pregnant women, in Indiana and around the country, to find loving, happy, wonderful homes for their babies. We give expectant mothers and birth mothers as much or as little involvement in the family selection process as they would like.
We have lots of wonderful, carefully screened, loving families (married, single, Lesbian, and Gay) who cannot wait to welcome a baby into their hearts and homes and happy to assist with living expenses to the full extent allowed by law.
You can call, text, and or email us anytime —call: 317-575-5555, text: 317-721-2030, email: AdoptionSupport@kirsh.com, or a Facebook message: https://www.facebook.com/KirshandKirsh/. We answer our office phone 24 hours a day, every single day. We try to respond to emails and text messages within minutes of receipt.