What Does an Adoption Lawyer Do?
When you decide that adoption is the right choice for your family, there are a series of steps that need to be taken. Finding an agency, choosing your child, and being matched with them are just a few. One of the steps people often overlook is the need to hire an adoption lawyer. An adoption lawyer is a legal professional who specializes in adoption-related services pertaining to law. Finding an adoption lawyer in Portland, Oregon, is as easy as finding a firm that deals with family law. Warren Allen LLP has lawyers that deal specifically with familial issues, such as issues regarding custody and adoptions.
Though it may seem like a cut-and-dry situation, adopting a child actually involves a large amount of legal work. Because there are so many things at stake when it comes to adoption, it’s best to hire someone who is familiar with and can walk you through any legal requirements necessary. They can assist you in making the decisions that will help you to expand your family and have a positive adoption experience.
Here are just a few of the things that adoption lawyers do.
Help Find an Agency
Adoption lawyers can assist you in even the earliest steps of the adoption process. That can include finding the best adoption agency in the area. An adoption agency is a licensed establishment that can let you place or adopt a child. A good adoption agency will assist your adoption lawyer in making the adoption process as easy as possible, and an established adoption lawyer will have good working relationships with local agencies.
The need to find an agency can be for prospective adoptive parents as well as parents looking to place a child with a prospective family. An agency can help you through this process, but an adoption lawyer can protect you and all of your legal rights before, during, and after. Having both an adoption agency and an adoption lawyer is the most popular and secure way that people move through the adoption process.
Complete Identified Adoptions
Not all adoptions happen in the same way. In some instances, families decide that they want to bring a child into their family without knowing who the child is beforehand. On the other hand, some families have already matched with a birth mother and don’t need the help of an adoption agency to place a child in their care. This can happen when the child is a distant member of a family or the child of a close friend. These types of situations are called identified adoption and require the help of an adoption lawyer to make them official.
Another form of identified adoption can involve stepparents. In some cases, a stepparent may wish to be the legal guardian of their stepchild through adoption. Despite the child being identified already, having an adoption lawyer can still work in your favor. They can assist you in collecting the proper paperwork and notifying the child’s birth parent, as well as represent you if you end up going to court.
Take Care of Paperwork
When you decide that adoption is the right choice for your family, you’ll need to fill out a variety of paperwork to make it official. Having all the necessary paperwork and filling it out correctly is what can officially establish someone as a parent. Not doing so can cause issues or delay the completion of your adoption. With the help of your adoption lawyer, you’ll be able to collect the proper paperwork and have it well organized by the time you need to present it.
One thing that people often overlook is the need to have an adoption lawyer even when you’re doing an identified adoption. Though you’ll skip the need to enlist an adoption agency to work on your behalf, there are still many legal steps you’ll need to take to secure adoption. Since that paperwork can differ from what is needed for traditional adoption, adoption lawyers can help you gather and present those documents as well.
Walk You Through the Requirements
There are various requirements that a prospective adoptive parent must meet in order to move forward. These conditions are different depending on the type of adoption you’re looking into. For instance, if you’re adopting a child from out of the country, families will need to be found eligible by not only US federal and state laws, but also the laws of the country you’re intending to adopt from.
Some of the other requirements include being a US citizen, being at least 25 years of age if you’re unmarried, and jointly adopting as a couple if you are married. You must also meet certain requirements that determine your suitability. These will require background checks, home studies, and fingerprinting. An adoption lawyer can help you understand the requirements and make sure you meet them all before attempting to move forward.
Provide Legal Council
No matter how you choose to move forward with the adoption process, you’ll likely face some challenging decisions. Those decisions will have consequences that can affect the adoption process now or later down the line. To make sure that your wishes are properly stated and that things go the way you’ve planned, it can be helpful to have an adoption lawyer speaking on your behalf. Adoption lawyers are familiar with the ins and outs of adoption law and can guide you in a direction that avoids any potential delays. Adoption lawyers can also provide legal services such as speaking on your behalf. Depending on the situation, you may need to go to court to complete your adoption process.
Assist You With Other Family Legal Issues
A great benefit to finding a good adoption lawyer is that they are usually well versed in other family law issues. Situations such as divorce, establishing paternity, separations, and custody all fall under the arena of family law, and establishing a good relationship with them now could make it easier for you to get their help in the future. Warren Allen LLP has a variety of lawyers in Portland, Oregon, that can assist with both adoption and other familial legal issues.