AMERICAN FORK — A birth father contesting an adoption is a rare occurrence, according to adoption officials in Utah.

"I wouldn't say it never happens but it's pretty unusual for the birth father to seek custody," says Lara Deveraux, the director of adoption for Children's Service Society of Utah, an adoption agency in Salt Lake City.

Deveraux says that at her agency the birth father seeks custody in less than 5 percent of the cases during the time period prior to adoptive placement. The agency works with approximately 50 cases each year.

And just because the birth father seeks custody, doesn't mean he gets it.

Within the past 10 years at Children's Service Society of Utah, just one birth father has challenged an adoption after it occurred. It was dismissed, Deveraux says.

Very few adoptions are contested nationally: less than .1 percent each year, according to the Adoption Network Law Center. Most adoptions do not dissolve, either. Some 98 percent are not terminated after legalization, according to the center, which is based in Lake Forest, Calif., and serves families in Utah and nationwide.

In both Idaho and Utah, birth fathers have the opportunity to file with the courts to declare their paternity and to sign a putative father's registry. This registry is the birth father's declaration stating that he is the father and that he wants paternal rights.

"It is called 'affirmatively asserting their paternity,"' Deveraux says.

In Utah, a birth mother has the option of using an attorney or agency to place her baby.

The birth mother must have three hours of counseling during her pregnancy before signing away her rights. A total of 24 hours after the baby is born, the birth mother can sign to relinquish her rights, according to Marty Shannon, adoption program administrator with Utah Division of Child and Family Services.

"It is a nonreversible document," Shannon said.

The adoption can be closed, with no further contact between the birth mother and the adoptive parents. Or they can opt for an open adoption, which allows a range of contact between both parties.

The birth mother could send a letter to the adoptive parents through their attorney or agency. Or, in other more open cases, there could be phone calls, e-mailing and visits between both parties.

"The majority of the adoptions are somewhere in the middle," Deveraux says.

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