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Erik L. Smith -  Attorney at Law

Education

University of Dayton School of Law -- University of Dayton  (J.D. 2012)

Bachelor's degree in Psychology from California State University Bakersfield, a master's degree in Human Factors Psychology from the University of South Dakota, and a degree in Swedish Language from the University of Uppsala (Kursverksamheten 1982.)

Mr. Smith has worked as a Swedish language translator, foreign book reporter, and as a guest researcher for the Swedish government. 

Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Smith worked as an independent paralegal and legal researcher for family law, adoption, juvenile law, appellate, and personal injury attorneys. He  has also appeared on NPR, CNN, and PBS regarding adoption law and has published several of his articles on the internet and in hard copy publications such as Ohio Lawyer, Air Force Law Review, Adoption Today, and Midwifery Today.

 

Publications and Media Interviews of Erik Smith

Jurisdiction in Contested Adoptions. 21 Probate Law Journal of Ohio 1 (Sep/Oct 2010).

Broken Dreams and Nightmares: County Agency Child Support in Disrupted Adoptions. (With Susan Eisenman) American Academy of Adoption Attorneys Newsletter. (Winter 2009)

Putative Father Registry Deadlines and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. 60 Air Force Law Review 175. (2007).

Basics of the Ohio Putative Father Registry. 19 Ohio Lawyer 6 (March/April 2005).

What Birthfathers Don’t Know Hurts Everyone. Adoption Today. June/July 2005. Reprinted in Social Issues Firsthand: Adoption. Greenhaven Press 2005. Haugen & Box, Eds.

Midwifery and the Constitution, Midwifery Today. Issue 65 Spring 2003

Understanding the Legal System. From Calling to Courtroom. 68 pp. Midwivestrial, June 2004. (also on the internet at http://www.fromcallingtocourtroom.net)

Paralegal Debunks Response to Safe Haven Report, Bastard Quarterly, Vol. 6, Issue 1:Fall 2003 

 

Internet

The Myth of the Right to Privacy as Justifying Birth Parent Anonymity in Adoption Surrenders. Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization. April 2012. www.bastards.org. (Pending)

 

Basics of the Virginia Putative Father Registry. (2007) http://fatherhood.about.com/od/virginia/a/Virgina_PFR.htm 

Midwifery and State Law Desk Reference. Waiver of Appellate Review. From Calling to Courtroom. Appendices I -II at http://www.fromcallingtocourtroom.net. June 2004. 46 pp. Response to “The Need for State Birth Father Registries.” adoption.about.com. Apr. 16, 2004.

Unwed Fathers: Preventing your infant child from being adopted without your consent. http://adoption.com April 2004. Case Report—Ohio. http://adoption.about.com. April 2004.

Rebuttal: Safe Haven Laws Seriously Flawed. August 30, 2003, Adoption Guide http://adoption.about.com

 

National Directory of Putative Father Registries, July 11, 2003, Originally published on the Adoption Guide http://adoption.about.com

The Ohio Putative Father Registry—The What? July 2, 2003, Originally published on the Adoption Guide http://adoption.about.com 

INTERVIEWS

 

Television

PBS: To the Contrary           Unwed Fathers' Rights                        June 17, 2006

CNN: Anderson Cooper         Biological Fathers and Adoption        March 20, 2006

Radio/Podcast

Woon Radio (RI)                    [Utah Adoption cases]                                    April 4, 2012

NPR: The Takeaway               Should the Father Have a Say            August 23, 2010

NPR: Talk of the Nation       Fathers Fight for Paternal Rights       March 27, 2006

WSAR (Fall River, Ma.)         Speaking of Adoption                          January 30, 2007

The Adoption Show               Where are the Dads?                          January 21, 2007

Newspapers/Blogs 

Milwaukee News Buzz. Rachael Nachtwey. The answer for abandoned babies? http://www.milwaukeenewsbuzz.com/?p=252804. September 16, 2010.

 

Salt Lake City Weekly            Some Call it Kidnapping                     July 28, 2010

Columbus Dispatch                 Adoption Rulings                                 August 8, 2010

New York Times                     Unwed Fathers Fight for Babies         March 19, 2006

Cleveland Plain Dealer           Dads: How to protect your rights.     February. 27, 2006

Interview with Erik Smith: Safe Haven Laws are Irresponsible, Wrong, Ineffective, and Unconstitutional. The Daily Bastardette. June 30, 2005. http://bastardette.blogspot.com/ 

PRESENTATIONS

 

American Adoption Congress            Truth in Adoption                             March 7, 2007

Annual Conference 2007                                                                    Boston, MA

MISCELLANEOUS 

Waves. Poetry Super Highway. http://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/ppotw.html Feb. 8, 2004

An Analysis of Driver Steering Patterns in a Simulator and in an Instrumented car: A Validation Study, 1987. (Master’s Thesis) 100 pp. 

Human Engineering Concerns in Interior Ambulance Design in Sweden and the U.S., follow-up to Human Engineering Concerns in Interior Ambulance Design (above, unpublished, 1987)

 

Human Engineering Concerns in Interior Ambulance Design, Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, Dayton, Ohio, 1986.

Smith, E. and Laurell, H. Driving Simulator Validity as a Function of Steering Dynamics and Task Demands, Proceedings of the Human Factors Assoc. of Canada, Montreal, Canada, 1987.

 

The Seventh Service Game; Humor in Foreign Language Teaching, Paper presented at the Conference for Humor in Education, Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota, 1988.

The Ohio Putative Father Registry–the WHAT?

I am a single man. Yet I had been in Ohio for over a year before hearing of the Ohio Putative Father Registry, and then only in a Probate Law class. The professor was covering how a child could be adopted without the birth father's consent. "ORC 3701.061: A man who has sexual intercourse with a woman is on notice that if a child is born as a result and the man is the putative father, the child may be adopted without his consent pursuant to division (B) of section 3107 of the Revised Code." That section required the man sign the Putative Father Registry within thirty days after the birth to get notice of the adoption.

 

Ohio Putative Father Registry: The Basics

Unwed fathers are entitled to notice of petitions to adopt their biological children. Yet many fathers lose this right by not registering timely with the Ohio putative father registry (PFR).1R.C. 3107.062. Because adoptions are probate proceedings, lawyers practicing juvenile, domestic relations, or traditional probate law may not understand how the Ohio PFR applies.  At initial consultations then, attorneys may omit counseling fathers about the registry and refer them to attorneys with more specialized experience. But the strict registration deadline, and often unknown deadline date, demand that the father register immediately. Thus the attorney should consider counseling the client about the PFR and help him register that day before referring him. This article gives the information needed to do that.

Preventing Your Infant Child From Being Adopted Without Your Consent

Summary

Consult an adoption law or family law attorney. Otherwise: An unwed father has no absolute right to veto an adoption. You must take action to preserve your rights. Whether the mother is considering adoption or not, an unwed father should, as soon as possible and preferably before the birth:

Disclaimer: The information on the website is not intended to be a source of solicitation or legal advice, the results obtained in any legal matter discussed in any articles or examples are not typical. The information discussed on this website should not be construed as a certain result will occur in a similar situation, the reader should not rely on the information on this site as the sole source of information to make a legal-hiring decision. The reader should not consider the information on this website to be an invitation for an attorney-client relationship. Readers should not act or decline to act based on the content from this site, and should instead contact an attorney or other appropriate professional. Articles and information on this website may discuss law in multiple jurisdictions, as laws and regulations differ from one jurisdiction to another, it is important to discuss your particular situation with an attorney in the jurisdiction where your legal matter exist. Erik Smith does not represent that he has any particular expertise in any area of law. You may email Erik Smith, but to the extent allowed by law those communications shall not be treated as privileged unless Erik Smith represents you, as such do not send confidential information until you have established a formal attorney-client relationship with him. Where applicable on this website, you are informed that we are an interactive computer service that enables access by multiple users and should not be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. Where applicable Copyright ©2022 Erik L Smith