When is consent not required from a parent who has abandoned a child?

• A. After six months of failure to visit or communicate with the child
• B. If the parent cannot afford legal counsel
• C. If the child is adopted by relatives
• D. If the child is over 18

Answer: (A)

Consent not required from a parent who has abandoned a child when the parent has failed to visit or communicate with the child for six months. That six-month period is the common threshold used to show abandonment, and it lets the court terminate parental rights and dispense with the parent's consent so the child can be placed with another adoptive family. The idea is that a parent who has no meaningful contact or involvement for that period has effectively abandoned the child, so protecting the child through an adoption proceeding does not require the parent’s consent.

Other options don’t fit this rule. Inability to pay for legal counsel doesn’t affect a parent’s consent rights. Adoption by relatives doesn’t automatically waive consent unless abandonment is proven, since the ground for dispensing with consent hinges on the six-month abandonment showing. And if the child is over 18, there isn’t a minor to adopt under the same rules, so the abandonment-based consent waiver generally wouldn’t apply in the same way.