How do you go about adopting ?

Question

A friend of mine is pregnant and she does not want the baby my husband and i are willing to adopt the baby we just dont know how to go about the whole procedures we donot have alot of money for expensive lawyers so how can we handle this adoption cheap and legally?

Answer 1

We did this, with two children from the same mother.  First we got guardianship, an attorney will charge for this, but if you have the time to go to family court, go to the file department and ask for the guardianship papers. (this will same you a ton of money) Once you have those signed and filed, get a family attorney to file the adoption papers.  Yes there is paperwork, but not the kind of fees you expect thru other adoption.  Good luck and God Bless you.  Keep in touch. (please remember the father, you will have to get him to sign off on the child too.) (We got both parents to sign) Unless the father is unknown or his where-abouts is unknown, then they just take away his parental rights.

Answer 2

you can arrange this adoption thing between u and ur friends........i heard that adoption doen't cost alot in usa

Answer 3

contact an adoption lawyer. Private adoptions are the cheapest and there is an income tax adoption credit that you can claim on taxes. I think it is up to 10 or 12 thousand now

Answer 4

You will need to engage the services of a lawyer to do things legally.  It might not be the cheap way, but it's the sure way to make sure everything is done by the books.

There is a federal tax credit (go to http://www.irs.gov and search for "adoption tax credit) that you can get...some states also have tax credits available to their residents.  There are adoption grants and loans, too, that you can apply for.

Answer 5

First, you need to start using positive adoption language.  Please read:  www.adopting.org/article5.html

It is not accurate or kind to say a birthmother "does not want the baby".  This is a baby you may parent.  How do you think he or she would feel knowing his/her parents described them as a baby that was not wanted?  Adoption is a very complicated and loving decision.  I have yet to see a mother take it lightly or callously.

Also, it is not positive at all to say you are "willing" to adopt this baby.  Again, if you adopt, how do you think your child would feel to know you were "willing" to be his/her parent?

And if the adoption itself is a difficult strain financially, you might want to consider how you will raise this baby.  Parenting is expensive.  If you can do it, great!  But just keep in mind that this is just the beginning.

You will have to (depending on what state you are in):

1.  Get an adoption homestudy ($500-900)

2.  Attorneys to do the Termination Hearings ($1500-3000)

3.  If you need a diligent search or private eye to find the birthfather, add $500-1500.

4.  After the Termination Hearings, then you can adopt, which will be around $1000-1500 for the finalization.

Hope this helps!  Good luck!

Answer 6

You and your friend can jointly contact an adoption agency or adoption attorney and indicate that you both want this placement (known as an “identified” or “designated” adoption).

You will still need to have a homestudy and you and your friend will need to meet all other requirements for counseling, pre-adoption education, and any others required by the adoption professional and state law.

If you go to www.google.com and type in adoption agency you can find one.  Also www.dexonline.com will help you find a local agency quicker.  I would have looked it up for you but I do not know what state you are in.

***The second link I have attached gives detail on a "Designated Adoption".

Answer 7

Despite what the other poster said, private adoption is not the cheapest way to adopt. Adopting from foster care is less expensive. Regardless of that fact, you really should contact an attorney or law school to see how to make this all legal. A lot of law schools have legal clinics where a law student does the work and is supervised by faculty with experience in that area. If this is not an option, you may be able to complete some of the work yourself and only pay the attorney to do parts of it. If so, that could save you a significant amount of money. Either way, you want someone with legal expertise to look it all over to be sure you have dotted all your i's and crossed all your t's.

Answer 8

instead of adoption your friend could sign over her rights to the baby when its born and you and your husband can sign papers to have legal gardianship of the baby.  I'm not exactly sure how that works but my aunt signed over her rights to my cousin to my mom and they went through the court house to do that.  

i don't think that it costed that much if anything at all.

Just call your local court house and ask them if that is something that you can do in your area.