Hoping To Adopt

We work with loving families who are hoping to become parents through adoption. Adoption is the legal process of creating a family by giving parental rights to adoptive parents. There are many reasons why a family might seek to adopt a child. Below are some of the most common situations that lead many families to choose adoption. To find out more about the adoption process, please contact us to set up a consultation. We look forward to making your dream of adoption into reality.

    Private Infant Adoption

Many types of families desire to adopt a newborn or infant. Some families have been experiencing primary or secondary infertility, have been having trouble conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy, have experienced stillbirth or infant loss, or are medically contraindicated from becoming pregnant. Some families are physically unable to become pregnant due to medical reasons, due to age, due to being a single person, or due to being a same-sex or transgender couple. Some families, regardless of whether they already have or plan to have biological children, desire to adopt a child for personal reasons or moral imperatives.

Private infant adoption involves being matched with birth parents during the birth mother’s pregnancy or, more rarely, after the baby has been born. Some adoptive families contact us having already been matched with a birth family, whereas other adoptive families utilize our matching services. In either case, we will be with you every step of the way during the adoption process.

    Step-Parent & Relative Adoption

Sometimes existing families need some legal re-arranging to make sure that the child’s best interests are met.

A step-parent adoption is where a parent’s spouse, who is not the legal or biological parent of the child, “swaps in” and becomes the second parent of the child. For example, if a mother and her new husband (the child’s step-father) want to parent the child together, a step-parent adoption would allow the father’s parental rights to the child to be terminated, would allow the step-father to “substitute in” for the father and acquire parental rights to the child, and would allow the mother’s parental rights to the child to remain intact. Although not obligatory, the parties can agree to forgive a parent’s child support arrearages in conjunction with the completion of a step-parent adoption.

A relative adoption is where a child is adopted by someone who is related to the child within the third degree of consanguinity. For those of you (most of us!) who don’t know your first cousin once removed from your second cousin, here is a table of consanguinity. Examples of relative adoptions are grandparents adopting their grandchildren, or aunts and uncles adopting their nieces or nephews, or older siblings adopting their younger siblings. If a relative wants to adopt a child who is related to the relative more distantly than the third degree of consanguinity (for example, a great aunt wants to adopt her grand nephew), that is still possible—it just won’t be categorized as a “relative adoption”.

The significance of being categorized as a step-parent adoption or a relative adoption is that Chapter 63 of the Florida Statutes provides a streamlined legal process for these types of adoptions. Regardless of whether your adoption is categorized as a step-parent adoption, a relative adoption, or any other type of adoption, the ultimate outcome of creating a family through adoption will not change.

    Foreign Adoptions & Immigration

Adoption creates legally-binding family ties, but does not automatically confer citizenship or legal residency upon a child who was born in or adopted from a foreign country. Sometimes families adopt a child in a foreign country and bring the child home with them to the United States, with the adoption case having been completed in the foreign country. In this instance, the foreign adoption will likely need to be domesticated. Other times, families adopt a child who was born in a foreign country but who was residing (either legally or illegally) in the United States at the time of the adoption, with the adoption case having been completed in the United States. In this instance, the child may have been processed through the Office of Refugee Resettlement. In all cases, we will work hand-in-hand with your immigration attorney to ensure that your adoption is completed properly and that your adopted child is legally allowed to reside with you in the United States.

    Foster to Adopt

Children enter the foster care system when parents have been suspected of abusing, abandoning, or neglecting their children. In this sad situation, a loving family can truly make a difference in a child’s life by becoming a foster parent or an adoptive parent. As a foster parent, you can help keep a child safe and secure while the child’s parents focus on overcoming the obstacles and learning the skills they need to safely reunite with their child. If the child’s parents do not meet the requirements to safely reunite with their child, then the Florida Department of Children and Families will seek out a permanent placement for the child. As an adoptive parent, you can provide a child whose parents cannot care for him or her with a permanent, stable, loving adoptive home. Although children of all ages can be available for adoption through the state, this is a unique opportunity to expand your family by adopting a child who is older, has special needs, or is part of a sibling group. There are many benefits to adopting through the state, such as free college tuition for the child. Moreover, you can choose Glass Law Office to be your adoption attorney, and the state will pay our legal fees.

    Adoption of an Older Child

While some families prefer to adopt a newborn or infant, other families prefer or are open to adopting an older child. Occasionally, private placements for older children arise. More typically, families will adopt an older child by adopting a former foster child through the state. Another typical way that families identify an older child to adopt is through mutual arrangement with friends or family. For example, sometimes a family other than the birth parents has been taking care of a child for many years, and the family then decides to take the next step and adopt the child.

    Adult Adoption

Sometimes, people share a relationship that is so special that they consider each other to be “like a parent” or “like a child”. In such a case, many people choose to make legal the familial bonds they already feel. Adoption matters, even though the child is an adult, for many reasons, including legal/technical reasons such as ease of estate planning, as well as the overarching intrinsic reason of welcoming someone into your family.

    Intervention—Taking Children Out of Foster Care for Private Adoption

If a child is in foster care, it is because the state has opened a dependency case on the birth parents due to suspected abuse, abandonment, or neglect. At any time before the dependency court terminates the birth parents’ parental rights, the birth parents can choose private adoption through a process called “intervention”. By choosing private adoption, the birth parents have the ability to take their child out of foster care and select a permanent home for their child with loving adoptive parents.

Location:

1279 West Palmetto Park Road
Suite 273721
Boca Raton, Florida 33486

Phone Number:

(561) 614-6060

Fax Number:

(561) 614-6061

Email Address:

lisa@glassadoption.com

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