Legal Representation for Children of Adoption?

Question

In the US Family Court System, abused and neglected children are often assigned a Guardian ad Litem or Court Appointed Special Advocate to be the voice of the child in Court. These folks have special training, are sworn officaers of the Court, can conduct private investigations and interviews and have access to documents, etc. in order to represent the child's best interests. (I know its not a perfect system - I used to be a GAL - but it has many benefits if done well.)

My question is: Should ALL children being placed for adoption, including step-parent adoptions and private infant adoptions, be assigned a legal representative? Why or why not?

Thanks in advance for your answers! :)

Answer 1

Yes! I think that an outside body of protection of the childs BEST interests could improve the adoption industry on a large scale.

I believe in this because too often the childrens best interests are overlooked for others interests. Money, revenge,, mother / father hating other parent wanting to get "back" at them. material aspects, its really sad. Really sad.

I think having a 3rd party advocate with no invested interest like a CASA worker is great! My good friend is a CASA worker and I've been slowly trying to get there myself and its so rewarding for her. We are both ex-foster children and its a blessing to have someone who is really there for the child. Not only for court advocacy, but support as well. To HEAR them, to LISTEN to them, to BE THERE for them. Sometimes a CASA advocate is all a child has.

Answer 2

Being a foster parent I have found our GAL's a true blessing to the kids and the families! Sadly not all my kids get GAL/Casa worker. Some just get a Guardian Ad Litem attorney and in my experience the GAL-Attorneys care far less and don't put out the same effort for the kids. I have never even heard from some of our kids Attorneys. How do they know how they are doing or how they feel about things if they don't even meet the kids? The judge in our county stopped assigning GAL/Casa workers to kids under 5 in our area unless they are part of a sibling group!  When our kids have a Casa worker they always seem to get reunited with family in less then a year, and I feel it is because of the Casa worker reaching out to the whole family and staying on the case workers butts!

I feel ALL kids should be assigned a legal representative, so that the child's best interest is served by the adoption

Answer 3

I think so.  Granted, I don't know enough about the SW or CW's job to really say for sure, but it seems to me that EVERY party in the adoption triad has something to gain or lose from the adoption, and an outside party, who has nothing to gain or lose either way, would ensure that the CHILD's needs are being met, to the best of their ability.  It would also be a benefit to the child to have this person stay in their lives for unannounced visits, say once a year.

Answer 4

NO i don't think so because most of the ad litem's are for the adopted couples and not the birth parents . I saw this first hand in my son's case in Dallas. She knew the adoption couple's lawyer and even worked first hand in his business so you could see where her heart was. My son even showed her a tape that he had that proved that he didn't know about his son. For some strange reason not one person for the other side got the tape out of discover so we couldn't let the jury hear the tape you know she told both the adoption agency and the adopted couples what was on the tape. So here my son was wanting his child and having to fight not only the adoption agency and the couples lawyer but this ad litem. She said my son was a good parent but please please don't take this child away from this couple. She helped them so much.  SO no. Most of them are for the adopted couples natural parents need someone for them to. Not only that my son's ad litem layer manged to get around 30 thousand dollars and didn't do a thing.

Answer 5

I suppose I'll be your only naysayer. I say NO.    I don't think adding yet another batch of legal red tape and expense or yet another person with their own personal bias will help adoptions unrelated to abuse or neglect.    What would help in private or agency infant adoptions is to have separate legal representation for the birth mother (free to the mom).  It would do a lot to eliminate the lies, bullying and misinformation that goes on currently.  In a stepparent adoption, the judge can choose to order a GAL.  There is one parent already involved.  Moving the homestudy process out of the agency to a non-interested party and perhaps adding some to it would be more beneficial.  

I've had a very negative result when a GAL deliberately withheld information.  There was no method to have this person made responsible or to overturn the decision even after it was PROVEN that information was withheld.

Answer 6

No, if someone agrees and wants to adopt - they must want what's best for that child so why have another person come in and dictate what's best for that child? Perhaps if there was some kind of custody going on between family members

Answer 7

Absolutely.....is it even necessary to explain why?

There should be a neutral party whose only position is to advocate for the child.

Answer 8

Hi MamaKate,

Yep, yes, yeppers, heck yea, & yesola!

Adoption should be about the child.  If everyone else has legal representation in the adoption process, so should the child.

wish this site had emotion smileys!