Statutes | Muscogee (Creek) Nation Code Title 6 Chapter 1 subchapter 9 ยง 1-902 | 2021
A. Termination of parental rights of father or putative father. The Prosecutor, child&rsquos mother when relinquishing the child for adoption or consenting to a step-parent adoption, the legal guardian of the child or other person having legal custody of a child to be adopted may petition for termination of the parental rights of a father or putative father of a child born out of wedlock, provided that the notice requirements of subsection B of Title 6, § 1&ndash903 are followed. The Court shall terminate parental rights if such action is supported by the evidence pursuant to subsection D of this section.
B. Fathers and putative fathers entitled to notice. For purposes of identifying fathers and putative fathers of children born out of wedlock entitled to notice pursuant to subsection B of Title 6, § 1&ndash903, the terms &lsquo&lsquofather&rsquo&rsquo and &lsquo&lsquoputative father&rsquo&rsquo 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&rsquos birth certificate as the child&rsquos father
3. Any person who is openly living with the child and the child&rsquos mother at the time the proceedings 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&rsquos father
4. Any person who has been identified as the child&rsquos father by the mother in a sworn statement
5. Any person who was married to the child&rsquos mother within ten (10) months prior or subsequent to the birth of the child and
6. Any person who has filed with the Oklahoma State Paternity Registry an instrument acknowledging paternity of the child.
C. Oklahoma Putative Father Registry. The Court, as necessary, shall order the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to provide the person or agency filing the petition with the name and address of any person on the registry who claims to be the father of the child.
D. Court decision. The Court may make one of the following decisions after the hearing to terminate parental rights of a father or putative father of a child born out of wedlock:
1. The Court shall terminate the rights of a father or putative father if he fails to appear at the hearing or has waived notice pursuant to subparagraph c of paragraph 2 of subsection B of Title 6, § 1&ndash903 or
2. The Court may, if it is in the best interest of the child accept a relinquishment or consent to adoption executed by the father or putative father of the child or
3. The Court may, if it is in the best interest of the child, determine that the father or putative father has failed to establish parental rights to the child and may terminate any parental rights which such father or putative father may claim if:
a. Prior to the hearing and having actual knowledge of the birth or impending birth of the child believed to be his child, he fails to acknowledge paternity of the child or to take any action to legally establish his claim to paternity of the child or to exercise parental rights or duties over the child, including the failure to contribute to the support of the mother of the child to the extent of his financial ability during her term of pregnancy or
b. At the hearing he fails to prove that he is the father of the child or
c. Having established paternity, he fails to prove that he has exercised parental rights and duties toward the child, unless he proves that prior to the receipt of notice he had been specifically denied knowledge of the child or denied the opportunity to exercise parental rights and duties toward the child after having made a sufficient attempt to discover if he had fathered the child or to exercise parental rights and duties toward the child.
4. The Court may, if it is in the best interest of the child terminate the parental rights of the father or putative father on grounds set forth in Title 6, § 1&ndash901 of this Title or
5. The Court may, if it is in the best interest of the child grant custody of the child to the father or putative father, if the court determines such person to be the father of the child.
[NCA 01&ndash126, § 602, approved Aug. 9, 2001.]
Cross References
Adoptions of children, when consent of parents unnecessary, see Title 6, § 1&ndash1007.
Library References
Indians O134.
Westlaw Topic No. 209.
C.J.S. Indians § 150.