Adoption Visitation Rights Dispute

Summary

Parents must follow adoption agreements, including visitation rights. Minors can be court witnesses, but parents cannot prevent court attendance. Seek legal advice.

Full Conversation

I am 14 years old, and was adopted when I was *. Part of the agreement was that I could see my siblings at least other month for at least an hour, IN PERSON. During the pandemic, we switched to online zoom calls for the visits, and even with the pandemic over, my adoptive parents still refuse to go back to in person. My birth siblings are taking her to court to try to get at least a few in person visits a year, and my adoptive mom put me as a witness for something, though I don’t know what for. She never told me anything either, and the court date is tomorrow, but she purposely scheduled a doctors appointment for me so I wouldn’t be able to go. Is this legal?
Hi ****, this is quite a complex situation. Generally, in North Carolina:
- Parents are required to abide by the terms of an adoption agreement, which may include visitation rights.
- A minor can be called as a witness in court.
- However, your parent cannot purposely prevent you from attending court.
You should consider getting legal advice. The North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute may be able to help.