Opinion ID: 1610450
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Adoption Issues

Text: The main opinion also purports to find support for its position in the Alabama Adoption Code, including Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-29(b), which states: Upon the final decree of adoption, the natural parents of the adoptee, except for a natural parent who is the spouse of the adopting parent are relieved of all parental responsibility for the adoptee and will have no parental rights over the adoptee. A similar line of argument was addressed and correctly rejected in County of Ventura v. Gonzales, 88 Cal.App.4th 1120, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 461 (2001). Finally, the County relies on [Cal.] Family Code section 8617, which states, `[t]he birth parents of an adopted child are, from the time of the adoption, relieved of all parental duties towards, and all responsibility for, the adopted child, and have no right over the child.' It argues that under this section, a parent must pay support until the child is adopted. Section 8617 is a general statute applicable to all adoptions of unmarried minors, not merely those that follow a termination of parental rights. The declaration that adoption ends a birth parent's obligations in all cases does not resolve whether a termination order itself ends a parent's duty to provide support. 88 Cal.App.4th at 1125, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d at 465. Like the adoption code at issue in Gonzales , the Alabama Adoption Code applies to several types of adoption situations, only a portion of which involve termination proceedings. Under the Alabama Adoption Code, adoptions can be either voluntary on the part of the parents (i.e., consensual adoptions) or involuntary, such as where the termination of parental rights is required. In part, the latter category can be further broken down into (1) those cases in which termination of parental rights has already occurred and thus no consent to adoption is required, see Ala. Code 1975, § 26-10A-10(1); (2) those cases in which no formal termination of parental rights is required because consent to the adoption is irrevocably implied, see Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-10(1); and (3) those cases in which a termination of parental rights must be obtained before the adoption may proceed, see Ala.Code 1975, § 26-10A-3 (If any party whose consent is required fails to consent or is unable to consent, the proceeding will be transferred to the court having jurisdiction over juvenile matters for the limited purpose of termination of parental rights.). Like the Gonzales court, I cannot conclude that provisions such as § 26-10A-29(b) reflect a legislative intent to resolve whether a termination order itself ends a parent's duty to provide support. 88 Cal. App.4th at 1125, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d at 465.