[onejobette]

Would I be allowed to post a picture of my niece with any post I put up? I see pictures next to people's names all the time here on these forums, and I'm wondering... "who are they? The adopted children they adopted, or THEM?" So, I was wondering. My niece was given up for adoption about 3 years ago, and is was, whatever, semi-open? (still recieve letters, and pictures now and then through the social worker) and it never dawned on me til now, "what if they are on this site too?" I haven't used her name in my posts, but I don't want to be out of line here, so can someone help me with this question. Heh! Should I even post my own picture?

Needing, (well, I guess not NEEDING) but wanting a little advice. THANKS!

[SchmennaLeigh]

I think it comes down to what the adoptive family of your neice would approve of regarding usage of their child's picture on the internet. Certainly, unless they are approached via the adoptive family that it is a problem, the staff around these parts wouldn't bust up and say, "THAT CHILD ISN'T YOURS!!! REMOVE THAT PHOTO!!" However, I do believe that if they were approached with the problem, they would side with the legal parents of the child. (Brandy, yes?)

Personally, my icon right now is myself and my son whom I am the legal parent (along with his Father, my Husband). However, in the past, I have had an icon/avatar of my birthdaughter, whom I am NOT the legal parent. The adoptive parents know that I use Munchkin's picture at times when I am needing to feel close to her/etc or wanting to show off something new and cute that she has done. (After all, Birthparents can be proud as well!) They have no problem with this, as it has been discussed in the past. (They also have access to another place where I frequently post and see the icons in use.)

Anyway, I think this is time for you to ask yourself if they would approve of you using their daughter's image on a public website. It's as simple as that. If you feel they'd be okay with it, go for it. We loooove pictures around these parts. The more smiles the better.

[BrandyHagz]

(Brandy, yes?)

Yes!

The general rule of thumb is this: Don’t post anything to the forums that you wouldn’t want posted about you without your permission.

There are only a couple of hard fast rules on pictures:

Under no circumstance can you post the picture of a child that is in state care – this is illegal in all states in the country…and bad things can happen if they found out it had happened.

Don’t post any pictures of minors, unless of course you are the legal parent or you have permission of the legal parent to do so.

Obviously, these rules are hard to enforce…we just assume that anyone who posts pictures to the forums are doing it with the right permission…but if we were ever contacted by someone, for example, if Jenna’s bdaughters parents every sent me an email and said, “Jenna is posting pictures of our child without our permission” then I would remove the picture and then send Jenna a PM advising her to obtain the permission needed to repost.

In the end, it’s a judgment call and we kinda leave that up to our members to decide what is right and wrong.

[Montraviatommyg]

Nothing to add to this really except backing up what has already been stated. I am in reunion with my son but wouldn't use his pic as an avatar for several reasons. For a start I wouldn't without his permission, I wouldn't feel too comfortable posting my pic public so shouldn't do that to him, and, he is a member of the forums anyway ... more to it than that, there are other reasons.

Pip

[onejobette]

Thank you all, who responded to my question. I too had a feeling that your answers would be a much safer route, and definetly makes more sense and is the responsible thing to consider and to do. Appreciate you taking the time out to respond, hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!