Adoption

Adopting a child brings happiness to families, but a biological parent’s change of heart can turn a joyous occasion into a stressful ordeal. I have more than 20 years of experience handling the complex legal procedures and frustrating red tape of the adoption process for clients. If you are looking to add a child to your family, I am ready to guide you through the process so you can focus on your new family member.

I help clients with the following areas of adoption:

  • Termination of parental rights
  • Open adoptions
  • Closed adoptions
  • Private adoptions
  • Stepparent adoptions

Careful approach to the termination of parental rights

Stories abound about birth parents challenging an adoption after it is finalized. These well-publicized news accounts reflect a real fear for adoptive parents. The suffering associated with a badly handled adoption affects everybody involved — the adoptive parents, the birth parents and the children who are caught in the middle. I ensure that both the birth and adoptive parents’ rights are respected so that the end result is a final adoption that cannot be challenged. I substantiate that the birth parents consent to the adoption freely and voluntarily to avoid claims of fraud, duress and coercion that can be grounds for restoring a birth parent’s rights.

 

Call me at (240)446-7255, email me at [email protected], or contact me online to schedule an appointment.