Leving Stopped Adoption Proceedings So Dad Could Raise His Own Child

By Laura Reichel

A Chicago father learned that his unborn child was being set up to be placed for adoption with total strangers in another state without his prior knowledge or his consent.

Terrified that he could lose his child before ever having the chance to ever meet him, dad turned to attorney Jeffery Leving, determined and ready to fight.

The Leving team moved quickly to protect his paternal rights. They were victorious in court stopping the adoption.

Attorney Jeffery M. Leving will talk about this powerful court victory on his weekly radio show, the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. CDT Saturday, September 5^th on Power 92.3 FM.

The show will be available for download on the Dads’ Rights Legal Hour Spotify page at dadsrights.com.

When this Chicago man learned that he was going to be a father, he was overjoyed. However, his life was quickly turned upside down when he learned that his former girlfriend who had moved to a distant state, was allegedly terminating her own parental rights to dad’s child and placing the child for adoption with total strangers.

Even worse, the former girlfriend reportedly lied to the adoption agency she was working with and said that dad wanted nothing to do with his child.

Dad did everything he could think of to contact his ex, locate her, and protect his relationship with his unborn child. However, his ex reportedly refused to return any of his calls.

Terrified of losing his child forever, dad called attorney Leving for legal help. The Leving litigation team developed a legal strategy to protect dad’s rights and prevent his unborn child from being adopted by strangers. They immediately began working to locate the mother and safeguard dad’s legal rights.

Despite having very little information about the mother’s location, the Leving team found her in another state. They moved quickly into court on an emergency basis and argued that the mother should be ordered to return to Illinois. The judge recognized the urgency of the situation and ruled in dad’s favor. The judge entered an emergency Order of Protection directing the mother to immediately return to Chicago. Once the adoption agency was notified of the court’s order, it immediately stopped the adoption proceedings.

After dad’s child was born, the Leving team returned to court again and argued that dad should have custody of his child. Once again, the judge agreed. Dad was granted custody of his baby boy.

Now, dad and his child can share a close, loving relationship. Without immediate legal action, dad could have lost his child forever and the child may have been raised by strangers far from home. Instead, because dad refused to give up and the Leving team quickly acted, this child now has the opportunity to grow up knowing the love, support, and presence of his loving father.

This court victory modified for publication is a powerful reminder that a father’s bond with his child deserves protection even when the child is unborn. No parent should lose the right to know and raise their own child because they were denied notice of the adoption, shut out of the process, and falsely portrayed as uninvolved.

Matrimonial Attorney Jeffery M. Leving is the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from the President of the United States in recognition of his 7,500 hours of service to this great nation. Leving co-authored the foundational Illinois joint custody law and has dedicated his career to safeguarding children and reuniting them with their fathers.

To learn more about Leving law and fatherhood, visit dadsrights.com

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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