For adoptive parents the reasons usually all boil down to wanting to experience the joys of parenthood. And for birth parents, adoption is almost always their desire to give their child the best possible life.
Joyce Schwensen has years of experience helping parents and potential parents with adoption, both as an attorney and as the former Executive Director of an adoption agency.
It's a field that is growing as new technology develops. However, it is vital that all parties involved understand their obligations, and that any agreements are carefully craft ed to respect the rights and wishes of everyone . Joyce Schwensen can draft these important agreements.
If you seek to adopt a child, it 's also critical to know your options. There are many choices you face on this exciting path. Joyce Schwensen can act as a guide and as your representative, helping you make informed decisions so that you can bring a child into your life through adoption.
You need to file your statement about the birth father under penalty of perjury with the court. A court would consider any misinformation to be fraud. It could result in criminal prosecution. This could void the adoption for up to three years after the finalization. In our experience, most birth fathers do not object to an adoption. If they do, they rarely actually do anything to legally fight it. For those rare circumstances where a birth father will fight an adoption, the adopting parents will pay for a lawyer to represent your wishes for the adoption to finalize in court.
If you become pregnant and decide to terminate the pregnancy or parent the child yourself, there is no law requiring you to notify the birth father. However, if you decide to place the baby for adoption, the law requires you notify the birth father of the adoption plan. Each state has different laws regarding how you notify the birth father. In some states, the adoption placement must be listed on a paternity site. In others, the baby’s father must be personally served written notice and, in some cases, give him an opportunity to appear in court. Here in California, it depends on whether the birth father is a presumed or alleged father under the law.
The Birth Father does have some Family Law Rights during an Adoption. Every year in the U.S., more than 100,000 children are adopted. Adoption is almost always a joyous occasion.
If a birth father meets at least one of the four requirements, and if he is willing and able to take responsibility and custody of the child, he may or may not be able to keep an adoption from proceeding.