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Family Planning & Adoption

Private Agency Adoption & Direct Placement Adoption

Our firm focuses our Adoption practice on private adoption, either through a private adoption agency or through direct placement adoption.

When an Adoption Agency is involved, the birth parent releases the child to the child-placing adoption agency. The agency then screens prospective parents. Generally, agencies require temporary placement prior to the finalization of the adoption. Conversely, when the adoption is a direct placement adoption, the birth parent personally selects the adoptive parents and then consents to the adoption and transfers the physical custody of the child to the adoptive parents. It is crucially important in these instances that the prospective adoptive parents work with an adoption attorney to ensure the legality during the process.

Step-Parent Adoption

In general, a step-parent adoption case involves a step-parent who wants to adopt his or her spouse’s child born from a previous marriage or relationship. Our role in this process is to represent the petitioning step-parent during his or her effort to become the legal father or mother of the step-child.

Very often with step-parent adoption cases we find that the absent parent either refuses to cooperate or cannot be located. Sometimes the absent parent has either not seen or supported the child for a number of years or the absent parent simply refuses to consent to the adoption (notwithstanding, of course, that the best interests of the child would be served by the absent parent cooperating during the adoption process). When this happens, we arrange to terminate the absent parent’s parental rights by law.

Kinship (Relative) Adoption

In North Carolina, relatives are permitted to adopt their kin. Often times during a kinship adoption, the adoptee has experienced some traumatic life event and the relative is akin to the special set of circumstances surround that adoptee. Whether the biological mother and father are cooperative during the adoption determines the complexity of the kinship adoption. It’s important to inform your adoption attorney of every relevant detail regarding the adoptee as well as the biological parents for a successful kinship adoption.

Interstate Adoption

ICPC stands for the “Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children” and it’s absolutely critical that you have an experience adoption attorney assist you when you’re adopting a child from another state. ICPC regulations provides a process to both sending and receiving states to ensure a smooth placement.

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