Adoption is the process of reassigning parental rights from the natural parents to another individual or couple
An Adoption is the statutory process of reassigning parental rights from the natural parents and assigning those rights to another individual or couple. A couple may decide to adopt an unrelated child; an individual may decide to adopt the child of his or her spouse; grandparents or other relatives may seek adoption – all of these situations provide more stability and greater legal responsibilities than guardianship does.
Adoption gives legal advantage, such as rights of inheritance, but it also gives greater emotional stability to the newly-created family unit.
Our law firm will gather the information requested by adoption agencies, prepare you for your home study and criminal background check and file the necessary paperwork with the court. Once the adoption is finalized, we can walk you through the steps you must take to provide health insurance for your child and receive any tax credits available to you.
In many cases of adoption, the biological parents need to consent to terminate their parental rights. This means that they will no longer have a right to visitation/parenting time or an obligation to pay child support. The adoptive parents and biological parents should also discuss if and when there will be contact between the biological parents and the child.