Question of the week

TPR, Guardianship & Adoption

Family Law · NextGen Bar Exam single best answer

Two days after giving birth, a mother tells a social worker she wants to give up her parental rights so the baby can be adopted by a couple she has chosen. The social worker has her sign a printed surrender form at the hospital bedside within hours of delivery, while the mother is still medicated and groggy. She is given no chance to consult anyone and is not told she may change her mind. A week later, before any adoption is finalized, she seeks to revoke the surrender.

What is the strongest basis for setting aside the mother's surrender?

Option A. Incorrect answer. A birth mother may never consent to terminating her rights under any circumstances.
Option B. Correct answer. A valid voluntary relinquishment must be knowing and voluntary, which this surrender was not.Correct
Option C. Incorrect answer. A surrender is valid only if a judge personally terminates the rights at a hearing.
Option D. Incorrect answer. A mother's surrender can always be revoked at any time before the final adoption decree is entered.

Why

A voluntary termination — a relinquishment or surrender — is valid only if the parent's consent is knowing and voluntary; this is the memorize-level consent point. Signing hours after delivery, while medicated and uncounseled, with no notice of the right to revoke, undermines both, so B is the strongest basis. A overstates the law: parents may consent, just with safeguards — an outright ban is wrong. C invents a rigid rule; many states use written surrenders executed before a judge or after counseling, but a judge personally terminating rights is not the universal requirement. D is too absolute: revocation windows are limited and defined by statute, not open until the decree, so 'always' misstates the rule. The defect here is the flawed consent itself.

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