I am in need of free printable adoption papers?

Question

I am trying to adopt a friends two year old little girl but we can not find the paperwork to print out and a lawyer wants 4200 to do this can anyone help.

Answer 1

If you do find papers anywhere, let us know if "birthmother privacy" is promised in there, anywhere.

I'm kind of betting it's not, but it would be interesting to know.

Answer 2

I don't think it's possible to do an adoption without a lawyer involved. There are too many legalities involved. Pay the money for the lawyer.

Answer 3

Check out http://secure.uslegalforms.com/cgi-bin/f...

They aren't free, but they are pretty inexpensive. Ask your attorney if, instead of drawing up the papers, he will charge a lower price and just check over these ones you have. If he still wants a lot of money, check with your state's legal aid office and see if you can get help. Come to think of it, that should probably be your first stop.

Answer 4

You can not create your own adoption petition. You must seek legal help. If you can not afford it, contact legal aid for assistance. They assisted in the guardianship and adoption of my neice at no cost to me. If you don't qualify for low income help, then you should consider temporary custody which can be written up without legal help. But you will run the risk of her changing her mind or worse the father popping up from nowhere to claim this child. Whatever you choose please think about the stability for this child. It is not fair to be passed person to person.

Answer 5

The previous poster is right. Even if your friend cannot raise the child, if there is a father in the picture-or even if he's not in the picture but on the birth certificate he has the exact same rights as the mother. If the mother relinquishes her rights by wanting to give the child up for whatever reason, then the child would still be 100% his child and responsibility and in his custody, if neither raise the child it would go through the court. The best way to make sure nothing comes back to haunt you is to go through the lawyer. Do a search online for an adoption attorney that would work with a lower income case, or find an attorney that would work out payment arrangements, call your state and ask for resources for an attorney to help you, or get a loan. It is worth it if you truly want to raise the child for the rest of it's life. Can you afford to raise the child? I know there are several state resources to help you, but the court would look at this and possibly decide that you are not in a position for custody either. Getting your ducks in a row and an attorney would really help you step by step to make it all legal! I had a sister in law who wanted to give her son and daughter to me because she was just not in a good place years ago, but I did not adopt them. We went to a notary public and got a power of attorney letter signed and stamped and they came to live with me, and it stated I had total decision making in thier life and education and health decisions, etc. etc. and she turned over thier birth certificates, and social security cards, and they lived with me for 2 years until she got on her feet. The father was in Mexico, and not on the birth certificate.If your friend has talked to a counselor, (which would help save you heartache as well since mothers can come back and change thier  minds once you are attached), and there is no father on the birth certificate/in the picture, then really try to get an attorney to handle all the paperwork for you. I'm telling you if he's on the birth certificate, he will have to relinquish his paternity rights legally too. If he's on the b.cert, even if he never held that child in his life, he could go one day and take the child and the police/authorities could and would do nothing about it b/x they can't legally if he's the father and on the birth cert. UNLESS there are court orders stating he cannot. It happened to a friend of mine, and that dad took her daughter for a weekend and didnt bring her back for 2 months and the police said they couldn't do a thing until she went to court and had a judge rule custody and have it in court papers. Good luck whatever might happen.

Answer 6

There is no paperwork that you can just fill out and file.  The $4200 is to terminate the birth mother and birth father's rights, which is very intricate legal work, and to be put in the hands of not just an attorney, but one who specializes in adoptions.  There are no shortcuts.

Answer 7

I don't know of free paper work. Does the father of this child know if not you could be in alot of heartach. If the father does want his child and finds out then with your friend wanting to give the child away he could get the child and your friend could be paying child support like the men do. Better find out before you open that can of worms

Answer 8

Hi Angele,

Sorry, Adoption is not a do-it-yourself transaction.  It must be legally done through an attorney, or an agency.  Then 6 months later, it must go before a judge to be finalized.  The judge will probably want to see that a satisfactory home study was conducted since the child you are petitioning to adopt is not a relative of yours.  The child's father will also have to have relinquished his rights to his daughter or had them legally terminated before the child can be considered free for adoption by anyone else.

$4,200 does sound like a bunch of money.  Believe it or not, many attorneys charge many times that amount.  Something to keep in mind is that the adoption industry in general is unfortunately corrupt, and they have become proficient in unnecessarily exploiting children & preying on prospective adoptive parents in order to make large profits off of them.  However, that is a necessary evil if you wish to legally adopt in today's U.S. system.

Is there any reason why your friend cannot keep her child?  Is there any way you can help her keep her?  If not, have you considered guardianship instead of adoption?  Just some things to think about.

julie j

reunited adoptee