birth mother

He was frequently anxious and sullen, a result of trauma from his birth mother’s drug use, according to his adoptive mother, Mallory Cooley.

The child’s birth mother, Melodie Barnes, had split from her boyfriend after getting pregnant and, with the help of a Christian anti-abortion network, moved to Oregon, which then allowed mothers to put babies up for adoption without their fathers’ consent.

Unable to cope, her birth mother placed her in an orphanage in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

The petitioners argued that the current legislation unfairly discriminated against parents who were not the birth mother - specifically, fathers, adoptive parents, and parents of children born to surrogates - by granting them only 10 days of parental leave, while the birth mother received four months.

In Alabama, a birth mother has just five days to change her mind.