New Jersey law provides parents with certain rights to see their children. Occasionally, however, one parent takes a child away, precluding the other from having parenting time with the child and playing a role in the child’s life. One such case is playing out across two states, and other fathers in similar circumstances are watching the case intently, hoping that its outcome could help their own child custody cases.

Four years ago, the man’s daughter was born. But soon after the birth, the mother attempted to remove the child to another state and get relatives there to adopt her. The mother even went to court to give up her rights to the child. The father filed a lawsuit in that state, seeking parental rights. That case went all the way to that state’s supreme court, which determined that the father’s rights had been violated when he was left out of the adoption decision.

The case was remanded to the lower court, where the judge must make findings on whether the father has fulfilled certain statutory criteria relating to paternal rights. The judge has yet to issue a final order, but it is expected that he will find for the father and nullify the adoption by the mother’s relatives. The judge has already issued an order mandating that the father’s name be placed on his daughter’s birth certificate.

If the judge does void the adoption, the custody case will move back to the state of the child’s birth. The mother’s relatives have already filed paperwork there requesting the removal of the father’s parental rights.

Child custody and removal cases can be complex, but there are legal avenues parents can use to preserve their parental rights.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune, “Colorado father’s custody fight moves back to his home state,” Brooke Adams, March 21, 2012.