2014 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 10. Children
§10-29.1. Repealed by Laws 1997, c. 366, § 60, eff. Nov. 1, 1997.

10 OK Stat § 10-29.1 (2014) What's This?

NOTE: In addition to repeal by Laws 1997, c. 366, § 60, this section was amended by Laws 1997, c. 386, § 16, to read as follows:

A. Whenever the mother of a child born out of wedlock who has custody of the child executes a relinquishment for the purpose of adoption pursuant to the provisions of Section 28 of this title, the person or agency to whom such relinquishment is made shall file a petition with the district court of the county in which the relinquishment was executed for the termination of the parental rights of the persons entitled to notice pursuant to subsection B of this section unless such rights have been previously terminated or relinquished.

B. Persons entitled to notice, pursuant to this section, shall include:

1. Any person adjudicated by a court in this state to be the father of the child;

2. Any person who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as the child's father;

3. Any person who is openly living with the child and the child's mother at the time the proceeding is initiated or at the time the child was placed in the care of an authorized agency, and who is holding himself out to be the child's father;

4. Any person who has been identified as the child's father by the mother in a sworn statement;

5. Any person who was married to the child's mother within ten (10) months prior or subsequent to the birth of the child; and

6. Any person who has filed with the paternity registry an instrument acknowledging paternity of the child, pursuant to Section 55.1 of this title.

C. The court, as necessary, shall order the Department to provide the person or agency filing the petition with the name and address of any person on the registry established pursuant to Section 55.1 of this title who must be notified pursuant to the provisions of this section.

D. Notice and hearing pursuant to this section shall comply with the provisions of Section 7006-1.2 of this title. The notice shall also apprise such person of his legal rights and shall include a clear statement that failure to appear at the hearing shall constitute a denial of interest in the child which denial may result, without further notice of this proceeding or any subsequent proceeding, in the termination of his parental rights and the transfer of the child's care, custody or guardianship or in the child's adoption.

E. A person may waive their right to notice under this section. The waiver, signed by such person, shall include a statement affirming that the person signing the waiver understands that the waiver shall constitute grounds for the termination of the parental rights of such person pursuant to the provisions of this section and Section 60.6 of this title.

F. 1. At the hearing the court may, if it is in the best interest of the child:

a.accept a relinquishment or consent to adoption executed by the father or putative father of the child, or

b.determine that the consent of the father or putative father to the adoption of the child is not required and may terminate any parental rights which the father or putative father may have, or

c.terminate the parental rights of the father or putative father, pursuant to the provisions of this section or Section 7006-1.1 of this title, or

d.grant custody of the child to the father or putative father, if the court determines the person to be the father of the child.

2. The court shall terminate the rights of a father or putative father if he fails to appear at the hearing or has waived notice under this section.

G. No order of the court shall be vacated, annulled, or reversed upon the application of any person who was properly served with notice in accordance with this section but failed to appear or who waived notice pursuant to subsection E of this section.

H. An appeal may be taken from any final order, judgment, or decree rendered pursuant to this section to the Supreme Court by any person aggrieved thereby, in the manner provided for appeals from the court as provided in this subsection.

1. All appeals of cases concerning the relinquishment of a child or the termination of parental rights pursuant to this section shall be initiated by filing a petition in error in the Supreme Court within thirty (30) days of the filing of the order, judgment, or decree appealed from. The record on appeal shall be completed within thirty (30) days from the filing of the petition in error. Any response to the petition in error shall be filed within twenty (20) days from the filing of the petition in error.

2. The briefing schedule is established as follows:

a.appellant's brief in chief shall be filed twenty (20) days after the trial court clerk notifies all parties that the record is complete and such notice has been filed in the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court,

b.appellee's answer brief shall be filed fifteen (15) days after the appellant's brief in chief is filed, and

c.appellant's reply brief may be filed within ten (10) days after the appellee's answer brief is filed.

I. Any appeal when docketed shall have priority over all cases pending on said docket. Adjudication of the appeals and in any other proceedings concerning the relinquishment of the child or the termination of parental rights pursuant to this section shall be expedited by the Supreme Court.

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