§ 48-3-607.  Consequences of consent.

(a) A consent executed pursuant to G.S. 48-3-605 and G.S. 48-3-606 may be revoked as provided in G.S. 48-3-608. A consent is otherwise final and irrevocable except under a circumstance set forth in G.S. 48-3-609.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the consent of a parent, guardian, or agency that placed a minor for adoption pursuant to Part 2 of this Article vests legal and physical custody of the minor in the prospective adoptive parent and empowers this individual to petition the court to adopt the minor.

(c) Any other parental right and duty of a parent who executed a consent is not terminated until either the decree of adoption becomes final or the relationship of parent and child is otherwise terminated, whichever comes first. Until termination, the minor remains the child of a parent who executed a consent for purposes of any inheritance, succession, insurance, arrears of child support, and other benefit or claim that the minor may have from, through, or against the parent.

(d) A prospective adoptive parent with whom a minor has been placed in an independent adoption and who has filed a petition for adoption of the minor may, after the time within which the consenting parent or guardian may revoke the consent has expired, apply ex parte to a clerk of superior court for an order finding that the child has been placed with the petitioner and confirming that the petitioner has legal and physical custody of the minor for the purposes of obtaining a certified copy of the child's birth certificate, a Social Security number, or federal and State benefits for the minor. (1949, c. 300; 1957, c. 778, s. 6; 1961, c. 186; 1969, c. 982; 1983, cc. 83, 688; 1985, c. 758, s. 12; 1987, c. 541, s. 1; 1991, c. 667, s. 1; 1995, c. 457, s. 2; 2018-68, s. 3.1.)