Adoption Laws????

Question

I am unable to have children, but a friend of mine is pregnant and is giving her baby up for adoption to my husband and I. And she and I neither know where to start in the process of legalizing the adoption when the baby comes. She isnt charging me any expenses. Can someone tell us what to do? Any advice will be greatly Appricated

Answer 1

Don't wait until the baby comes- start now!  Contact an adoption attorney.  Make sure they specialize in adoption and follow their advice!

Answer 2

Congratulations, first off.   Even if your friend is not charging you expenses (which would be wrong, unless you're counting medical bills, so don't count that as something special, you don't "buy" babies), there will be expenses, from lawyers, your state, etc.- so be prepared for them.  You'll need to find a lawyer specializing in adoption, and asap, it's really not as simple as it seems you may be thinking.  I also recommend the counseling for your friend, both now, and after the baby is born, for as long as she needs.  Adoption is a wonderful thing, but not "simple" by any means.  You could and should pay for the counseling, if she does not have the means.  If she does not accept your offer of counseling now, keep that offer open.  Good luck~

Answer 3

u can go to ur court house and get the papers 4 signing prenatal rights over and adoption papers. there is a little cost 4 the papers and the cost for the courts to get it all in writing. ur child suport office or human service can give tell u where to go.

Answer 4

There are special lawyers that can handle all the paper work.  You want it to be legal and binding.  You don't want her to come back in 6 months and decide differently.  Contact a lawyer which are everywhere that handle these types of things.  They will draw up the paperwork and everything can be handled through him.

Answer 5

call an adoption lawyer!!!!

good luck!!!!

Answer 6

You must have a home-study first and foremost, and it can take some time so I suggest you start that right away. Look in your yellow pages under adoption agencies and see if any have homestudy-only programs.

You will also want to consult with a family law attorney ASAP to find out the specific laws in your locale and get the ball rolling.

The mother should have counseling and her own attorney, even if it is not required by law.

Answer 7

Congratulations to you!  We adopted the same way!  

However, each state has different regulations and you will want to contact an adoption attorney.  This is a legal proceeding so it will cost "some" money.  In our case, while we were in the process of talking with an attorney, children services' took the child and placed him with the biological grandparents in kinship care (portion of foster care).  Because of this, our attorney suggested that we contact an adoption agency to do an "identified" adoption to insure that we had no problems with the state.  It did cost us a little more money doing it that way, but it was definitely worth it.  Even if we had used the attorney, we would have had to still pay to have a home study done by an agency and the criminal background checks, etc.  Our state also required in home visits after placement to insure the child was okay.  An agency had to do those too.

I would just recommend that you speak with an attorney or adoption agency to insure that nothing slips through the cracks.  You don't want to have the state involved if you don't have to (trust me on that one).  

Good luck to you and Congrats again!

Answer 8

I would seek advise from an attorney or legal council just to be sure. Or contact her pregnancy doctor- they should have information available or at least where to go for it.

Answer 9

This can be a wonderful arrangement but please make sure you do everything legally.  A licensed agency will make sure all the paperwork and the homestudy are done properly.  So will a lawyer who specializes in adoption.  You will need to do a lot of paperwork and jump through a lot of hoops.  Make some calls.  Ask about requirements.  Ask about fees.  A legal adoption will cost money, there is no way around that, but the IRS has an adoption tax credit, and many of your costs will be refunded as tax credit after the adoption is finalized.

Answer 10

Go to a lawyers office. They can make it all legal and have the rules like open adoption and visitations. It can also be said that there will be no fee. Cuz although she may be your friend now, if ya'll fight or something she can take the child away if there are no legal documents, or even decide to blackmail of anything like that. Just seek a lawyer to legalize anything and have papers jsut in case... Good luck and congrats!