Right to counsel
There is a right to counsel for indigent parents in adoption proceedings. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 18-A, § 9-106(b) specifies:
(a) The biological parents are entitled to an attorney for any hearing held pursuant to this article. If the biological mother or the biological or putative father wants an attorney but is unable to afford one, the biological mother or the biological or putative father may request the court to appoint an attorney. If the court finds either or both of them indigent, the court shall appoint and pay the reasonable costs and expenses of the attorney of the indigent party. The attorney may not be the attorney for the adoptive parents.
(b) When the adoptee is unrelated to the petitioner, the court shall appoint an attorney who is not the attorney for the adoptive parents to represent a minor indigent biological parent at every stage of the proceedings unless the minor biological parent refuses representation or the court determines that representation is unnecessary.
