the legal risk window varies from state to state and situation to situation
We live in WI, which means that the birth-mother can legally re-acquire custody her child after she has signed the termination of parental rights (TPR), if she does this before a judge signs the TPR. That process takes about a month. In IL, for example, the mother loses custody of a child the moment she signs her TPR.
We found out over the weekend that the birth-father has disappeared, which means that our agency has to run his name in the paper for 3 consecutive days for him to come forward. Our social worker said that the judge may not require them to do that, since he is very aware of the pregnancy, and has discussed it with the agency.