48-3-705. Consequences of relinquishment.
(a) A relinquishment executed pursuant to G.S. 48-3-702 through G.S. 48-3-704 may be revoked as provided in G.S. 48-3-706 and is otherwise final and irrevocable except under a circumstance set forth in G.S. 48-3-707.
(b) Upon execution, a relinquishment by a parent or guardian entitled under G.S. 48-3-201 to place a minor for adoption:
(1) Vests legal and physical custody of the minor in the agency; and
(2) Empowers the agency to place the minor for adoption with a prospective adoptive parent selected in the manner specified in the relinquishment.
(c) A relinquishment terminates:
(1) Any right and duty of the individual who executed the relinquishment with respect to the legal and physical custody of the minor.
(2) The right to consent to the minor's adoption.
(3) Repealed by Session Laws 1997-215, s. 19.1(b).
(d) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, parental rights and duties of a parent who executed a relinquishment are not terminated until the decree of adoption becomes final or the parental relationship is otherwise legally terminated, whichever occurs first. Until termination the minor remains the child of a parent who executed a relinquishment 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.
(e) An agency or county department of social services to whom a minor has been relinquished may, after the time within which the relinquishing parent or guardian may revoke the relinquishment has expired, apply ex parte to a clerk of superior court for an order finding that the child has been relinquished to the agency and confirming that the agency or county department of social services has legal 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.