Denver Adoption Attorney
Adoption is one of the relatively few areas in Family Law where all the parties can leave the Courthouse happy. At the Law Office of Keith Sandoval, we will guide you through all the legal steps to ensure that your adoption had a happy ending.
Adoption gives a child the benefit of a permanent parent-child relationship. It also gives the adoptive parent all the rights that a biological parent would have, including the right to make all major decisions concerning the child's life and upbringing.
Types of Adoption
There are quite a few different ways to bring a child into your life, or confirm your legal relationship with one, through adoption. Here's the lowdown on the different ways that adoption can work.
Agency Adoptions
Agency adoptions involve the placement of a child with adoptive parents by a public agency, or by a private agency licensed or regulated by the state.
Public agencies generally place children who have become wards of the state for reasons such as orphanage, abandonment, or abuse. Children placed through private agencies are usually brought to the agency by a parent or parents who have or are expecting a child they want to give up for adoption.
Independent Adoptions
In a private, or independent, adoption, no agency is involved in the adoption. Some independent adoptions involve a direct arrangement between the birth parents and the adoptive parents, while others use an intermediary such as an attorney, doctor, or clergyperson. But for most independent adoptions, whether or not an intermediary is used, an attorney will be needed to take care of the court paperwork.
An "open adoption" is an independent adoption in which the adoptive parents and birth parents have contact during the gestation period and the new parents agree to maintain some contact with the birth parents after the adoption, through letters, photos, or in-person visits.
Stepparent Adoptions
In a stepparent adoption, a parent's new spouse adopts a child the parent had with a previous partner. Stepparent adoption procedures are less cumbersome than agency or independent adoption procedures. The process is quite simple, especially if the child's other birth parent consents to the adoption. If the other birth parent cannot be found or if he or she refuses to consent to the adoption, there is more paperwork to do and the adoptive parents may need an attorney.
Relative (Kinship) Adoptions
In a relative adoption, also called a kinship adoption, a member of the child's family steps forward to adopt. Grandparents often adopt their grandchildren if the parents die while the children are minors, or if the parents are unable to take care of the children for other reasons (such as being in jail or on drugs). In most states, these adoptions are easier than non-relative adoptions. If the adopted child has siblings who are not adopted at the same time, kinship adoption procedures usually provide for contact between the siblings after the adoption.
Relinquishment of the biological parents rights
Before you can adopt a child, the rights of the biological parents must first be terminated. Depending on the circumstances, this can occur either through consent or some form of court action. In many adoptions involving stepparents or relatives, the biological parent is deceased, missing or no longer in the child's life.
However, if a biological parent contests the termination of his or her parental rights, the adoption process can be very difficult.
Investigation of Adoptive Parents: The Home Study
Colorado requires adoptive parents to undergo an investigation to make sure that they are fit to raise a child. This investigation is called a home study. Typically, the study is conducted by a state agency or a licensed social worker who examines the adoptive parents' home life and prepares a report that the court will review before allowing the adoption to take place. The social worker makes a recommendation about whether the adoption should be approved, but a court always makes the final decision.
The social worker will commonly ask about a number of areas considered important to the adoptive parents' ability to raise a child:
- financial stability
- marital stability
- lifestyles
- other children
- career obligations
- physical and mental health, and
- criminal history.
In recent years, the home study has become more than just a method of investigating prospective parents: It serves to educate and inform them as well. The social worker helps to prepare the adoptive parents by discussing issues such as how and when to talk with the child about being adopted, and how to deal with the reaction that friends and family might have to the adoption.
If the social worker ends up writing a negative report that claims the adoption isn't in the child's best interests, you may contest the conclusion. Each state has different appeal procedures. Some states provide for a separate procedure, while other states make the appeal part of the adoption hearing.
Court Process
All adoptions, whether handled by an agency or done independently, must be approved by a court. The adoptive parents must file an adoption petition -- basically a request for approval -- with the court and go through an adoption hearing.
Adoption Petition
In order for a court to approve an adoption a petition for adoption must be filed. Included on the petition is the following information:
- the names, ages, and residence address of the adoptive parents
- the name, age, and legal parentage of the child to be adopted
- the relationship between the adoptive parents and the child to be adopted, such as blood relative or stepparent
- the legal reason that the birthparents' rights are being terminated (the reason usually being that they consented to the termination)
- a statement that the adoptive parents are the appropriate people to adopt the child, and
- a statement that the adoption is in the child's best interests.
The written consents of the birthparents or the court order terminating their parental rights may be filed along with the petition. Adoptive parents also often include a request for an official name change for the child.
Adoption Hearing and Order
At the adoption hearing, if the court determines that the adoption is in the child's best interest, the judge will issue an order approving and finalizing the adoption. This order, often called a final decree of adoption, legalizes the new parent-child relationship, and usually changes the child's name to the name the adoptive parents have chosen.
Free Lawyer Consultation
When so much is at stake, it's helpful to talk to a lawyer you can trust. For a free initial consultation, contact me or call me at 303-731-6247 (toll-free at 877-266-7318).