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Hollywood Stardom is Not a Requirement for Adoption

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:58:01 GMT

“Brangelina” have scoured the globe looking for children to make their own. But you don’t have to be a Hollywood star to adopt. There are no set requirements for an adoptive parent’s age, wealth, social status, beauty or home square footage. The only requirement in most states is the level of love, understanding and guidance a parent can offer a child. Some states do not even require two parents; in California 25% of those who are adoptive parents are single parents.

Adoption

An adoption is different than being a child’s guardian or foster parent. An adoption is a legal process where the adoptive parents are given permanent parental rights over a child. At the same time, the child’s natural parents’ parental rights are terminated. A parent may voluntarily give up their rights by filing a relinquishment with the court or the court may terminate the parental rights on its own initiative. Involuntary termination by the court normally requires child abuse, abandonment or some other illegal or dangerous act.

Guardian

An adoption is different from the appointment of a legal guardian for a child. A legal guardian is a person appointed by the court to temporarily care for a child. It is a temporary order because the order is vacated on the child’s 18th birthday. An adoptive parent will always be that child’s parent. The guardian is also under the supervision of the court. A judge may overturn a guardian’s decision and may also change a minor’s guardian. In the eyes of the law an adoptive parent is the child’s parent, permanently. Once an adoption is finalized the courts have no power over the parents and child. An adoptive parent’s rights and responsibilities are indistinguishable from a child’s natural parents.

Foster Care

Foster parents are usually licensed by the state to care for children who are not able to live with their parents. Foster parents may care for multiple children for short periods of time and may also receive money for supervising foster children. The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, passed in 1997, requires the states to limit the amount of time a child may spend in foster care if there are aggravating circumstances which make adoption the best option for the child, rather than being returned to their parents.

International

Many people are going overseas to find children to adopt. There are many private adoption agencies setup to facilitate foreign adoptions. International adoptions are regulated by individual county’s laws as well as the international Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which the United States has ratified.

Brad and Angelina were not given special treatment because it seems they were able to quickly bring their child home. Any parent who is a citizen can bring an adopted child into the United States. If the adoption is finalized in the child’s home country the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows the adopted child to acquire U.S. citizenship automatically on the date they enter the United States as a lawful permanent resident.

Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 does not differentiate between adoptive or birth parents when a parent requests leave. New parents are allowed to take up to 12 weeks of leave whether there new child was born to them or the child was adopted by them.

For more information on adoption law, contact a family law attorney today.

Open or Closed Adoption: Which is Right for You?

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:33:32 GMT

Adoption is an exciting process. When you add to your family by adopting a child to love and care for, you are beginning a lifelong relationship and commitment. Therefore, it is best to think about the impact of the adoption process on you and the child at the time of adoption and in the future.

Open Adoption

In an open adoption, the birth parents and the adoptive parents know each other’s identities. Often, there is direct contact between them. Sometimes, there is ongoing contact after the child has been adopted and the birth parents have a relationship with the child. Some experts believe that this is an emotionally healthy option or all involved.

However, it is important to keep in mind that regardless of whether the identities are known and a relationship ensues, the purpose of adoption is to terminate the parental rights of the birth parents and to give parental rights to the adoptive parents. Therefore, if the adoptive parents decide to end visitation or contact with the birth parents then the birth parents may have a difficult time continuing their relationship with the child.

The two main advantages to open adoptions are that the adopted child never has to wonder about his birth mother nor spend time searching for her. Further, if a complicated medical issue arises it can be useful to have blood relatives of the child tested for organ or blood compatibility.

That said, open adoptions can be emotionally difficult for a birth mother who is watching someone else raise her children and for the adoptive parents who are allowing the birth parent(s) to be known to their child. Accordingly, it is important to seek legal advice prior to entering an open adoption arrangement. Both birth parents and adoptive parents want to know that the adoption process is permanent and that the parental responsibilities have been transferred.

Closed Adoption

In a closed adoption, birth parents and adoptive parents work through an agency or another third party. They do not have contact with one another and care is taken to prevent each party from learning the other’s identity. Information is, of course, provided to the adoptive parents about the child’s medical history and other important factors.

The information about the adoption and the birth parents is kept sealed in a closed adoption. Traditionally, adoptees would need a court order to get that information released. However, since the late 1990s some states have begun to allow adoptees over the age of 18 to have the records released without a court order. This is consistent with a growing trend in this country toward open adoptions.

A Middle of the Road Approach

While the past few decades have brought many more open adoptions then existed in previous generations, many adoptive parents are fearful of allowing the birth parents to remain in the child’s life. Accordingly, there is another approach available where an agency or an attorney acts as a neutral third party and allows the adoptive and birth parents to communicate without knowing the other’s identity. Adoptive parents can ask questions and birth parents can see photos without threatening each other.

When adoptions are conducted according to the wishes of both the birth parents and the adoptive parents they are a wonderful advantage to society. Therefore, both birth parents and adoptive parents should seriously consider the repercussions of closed and open adoptions before deciding which path to take.

For more information on open and closed adoptions, contact an adoption law attorney today.

Termination of Parental Rights

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:11:30 GMT

A legal termination of parental rights differs significantly from simply agreeing to not seek custody and/or visitation with a child. While parents are typically free to choose to live apart from or refrain from visiting with their children, they likely have a legal right to do so if they so choose. On the other hand, a legal termination of parental rights permanently prohibits a parent from having any legal rights to the child, including the right to custody of the child, the right to visit or have any contact with the child, and the right to have any input in decisions made regarding the child. Termination of parental rights also relieves a parent of the responsibility to financially support his or her child. Every state has different laws that govern the termination of parental rights, and there are different situations in which a court may order that a person’s parental rights be terminated.

One of the most common proceedings in which parental rights are terminated is through abuse and neglect proceedings. While the specific circumstances under which termination of parental rights can occur varies somewhat from state to state, some common situations include abuse and/or neglect of a child by a parent, placing the child in danger by engaging in criminal activity, leaving the child without a home due to the incarceration of both parents, or being unable to care for the child due to alcohol and/or drug dependency. In these types of cases, the state alleges that a parent is unable or unfit to care for his or her child, and that it would be in the best interest of the child that parental rights be terminated. Prior to a termination of parental rights occurring, the state usually must have made some effort to involve the parents in the abuse and neglect proceedings, and engage the parents in working toward reunification with their children. It is only when these efforts fail, or when parents refuse or choose not to cooperate with the state regarding reunification with their children, that a termination of parental rights occurs.

Another circumstance in which parental rights are terminated is through adoption proceedings. In a routine adoption case, adoption proceedings legally and permanently terminate the biological parents’ parental rights to the child. It is common for biological parents to consent to an adoption, thus voluntarily terminating their parental rights. However, some states have laws under which a biological parent’s consent to adoption is not required in some situations, usually because the parent has failed to maintain contact with or financially support the child for a lengthy period of time. Likewise, in a stepparent adoption situation, the stepparent becomes the legal parent of the child through adoption proceedings, which results in the termination of the biological parent’s parental rights, whether it occurs voluntarily or involuntarily. In this situation, if the biological parent agrees to the stepparent adoption, or if the biological parent’s consent is not required by law, then the adoption will be granted, and the biological parent’s rights will be terminated, so long as the court agrees that the adoption would be in the best interests of the child.

Whatever the circumstances leading to a termination of parental rights, all courts use the standard of “best interest of the child” in determining whether termination of parental rights is appropriate. Some states’ laws regarding this standard are very general, in stating only that the child’s safety, health, and welfare must be protected. In other states, however, the court must consider a specific list of factors in determining whether termination is in the best interests of a child. Some common factors considered by courts under the best interest of the child standard include the age of the child, the specific health needs of the child, the child’s desires if the child is of a certain age, and the mental and emotional needs of the child.

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