In every state there are multiple ways in which a birth parent can place their child for adoption with a prospective adoptive parent. Each method and each state has differing processes with different rules for when a birth parent can sign consents and when that consent becomes irrevocable. As an interstate adoption law firm, we specialize in preparing a legal plan that affords our clients with the safest, quickest and most cost-effective plan for obtaining irrevocable adoption consents.

Among other things, the Interstate Compact on the placement of Children ensures that adoption laws and regulations are followed in both the sending and receiving states, that the adoptive couple or individual has a valid home study, that proper medical care will be provided for the child, and that an investigative adoption social worker or agency will check in on the child to provide post-placement supervision while an adoption proceeding is pending. A baby placed for adoption with an adoptive parent who resides in a different state must be cleared by both state regulators before the child is permitted to travel home with the adoptive parent. Our adoption attorneys specialize in obtaining regulatory clearances from applicable interstate compact regulators, so the adopted child can timely and safely cross state lines to go home to the state in which the adoptive parents live.

This Federal law affects any child being placed for adoption who may have Native American heritage of any kind. At AdoptHelp Law Center, we assess applicability of the Indian Child Welfare Act to each specific child being placed for adoption, obtain tribal clearances from all applicable federally recognized Native America Tribes, and take birth parent consents before state and trial court judges consistent with the Act.

With our team of adoption case workers, social workers and attorneys, we manage all the details of the adoption from the match until the baby is born and placed for adoption. This typically includes regular communication with the birth parents and the prospective adoptive parent, legal compliance and judicial approval of the distribution of birth mother living expenses, professional trust fund management for distribution of birth mother living expenses through our law firm, assisting the birth mother with obtaining prenatal care, preparing hospital plans, preparing the legal paperwork needed for the baby to be placed for adoption, retaining all needed third party adoption professionals, complying with all legal and regulatory requirements, obtaining birth father consents or waivers, obtaining counseling for the birth mother, and creating and managing a post-placement plan.

Adoptions culminate with a hearing before a state court judge who will review all of the legal documents and social worker/agencies recommendations, hear testimony from the prospective adoptive parents indicating that the parent wishes to make the adoptive placement permanent and then issue a final order or adoption decree that makes the adoptive parent the permanent legal parent of child and confers all of the rights and responsibilities of a natural parent child relationship. Our attorneys will handle every aspect of this judicial process and also will assist in obtaining a new birth certificate listing the adoptive parent(s) names as the parent and the child’s name after adoption.

Sometimes it is advisable to have a court create a legal guardianship over a child prior to finalizing an adoption. A legal guardianship suspends the parental rights of the birth parents and gives physical and legal custody of a child to the prospective adoptive parent. In other cases, it is advisable to create a power of attorney that authorizes the prospective adoptive parent to make medical decisions for the child as well as empower the hospital to discharge the child directly to the prospective adoptive parent. As a law firm, our attorneys effectively utilize these tools to ensure extra protection in those cases where a guardianship or power of attorney is needed.