What kinds of adoption do you specialize in handling?
Our office provides legal services to clients in private placement Adoptions (that is where the birth parents choose the adoptive parents without the assistance of this office and without using a facilitator or unlicensed intermediary) and place the baby directly with the adoptive parents usually at the time of the baby’s discharge from the hospital. We represent clients in a number of adoption scenarios: those who are adopting through licensed adoption agencies, stepparents who seek to adopt stepchildren, second parents seeking to adopt a spouse or domestic partner’s child(ren) and we can coordinate the re-adoptions of foreign adopted children so that a birth certificate from a state in the USA can be obtained for the child(ren) and we also handle lots of adult adoptions.
We provide legal services to birth mothers and adoptive couples throughout the United States but, in conformity with the highest levels of legal ethics to which I aspire, I do not represent both birth and adoptive parents in the same adoption.
How long will it take us to adopt?
When we meet or chat by telephone we can discuss your needs and provide a reasonably accurate time frame based upon current trends and your particular situation.
How much will it cost us to adopt?
The total cost of each adoption depends on the facts of each individual case. Before you hire us, we will discuss your situation with you and give you an estimate of fees, cost and time frame. We respect that you want to keep adoption affordable and may want to work collaboratively with us to keep the fees for our legal services down. My goal is to meet the requirements of your budget. We do not demand large retainer fees (deposits) to do our legal work.
Are any of our adoption expenses tax deductible?
Yes. We can discuss this in greater detail when we meet. You will also want to speak with your tax advisors or accountant about the applicability of the adoption tax credit to your situation and whether you would be entitled to the entire credit or to only a portion of it based upon your adjusted gross income. Please note that the tax credit is not available in stepparent, second parent, adult and relative adoption cases.
The law also continues to apply to unsuccessful/failed adoptions and it also increases the amount of money which employers may provide to employees tax free to help subsidize their adoption efforts. To determine how much of your adoption expenses will be allowed as a tax credit on your federal income tax return please contact your tax preparer or accountant as the adoption tax credit often has a significant financial impact for the better on the vast majority of adoptive families.
How and what do you charge for your legal services and what legal services do you provide?
My firm charges hourly for my advice and professional services in connection with the legal services we provide in connection with your adoption plans. My hourly fees are designed to assure that you only pay for the services we provide during our representation of you as a client. If we are able to handle your case inexpensively, you won’t be asked to pay more than for the services which we render to you or on your behalf as itemized in monthly statements we will send you from our office.
There are a few instances when we charge flat fees for services as a means of cost management and protection for you. Particularly once a match has been made we may charge flat fees for such services as terminating a birth father’s rights, compliance with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, and/or taking waivers from biological parents. We do not charge one time “lump sum charges” so you won’t be asked to give us a lump sum for postage, long distance telephone and advertising. You simply pay for the out of pocket costs we actually advance on your case.
Initial consultation appointments are charged hourly for the time actually spent. The hourly rate which is charged for the consultation time is discounted as a courtesy to you. My consultations typically last between an hour and two hours. Consultations are spent with me alone – – you are not shunted off to others in my office to consult with about various subjects after meeting with me. You do not have to complete an application before meeting with me. You do not have to deposit funds with my office that are non-refundable before the initial consultation. Payment for the initial consultation is due at the conclusion of our consultation appointment.
Can we work with a facilitator or other unlicensed intermediary to help us locate a baby to adopt and/or make an adoption plan with birth parents or a third party?
Effective January 1, 2024 it is a criminal offense for adoption facilitation services to be provided by anybody other than an employee of a licensed California Adoption Agency per Family Code section 8623 ET SEQ. THIS LAW DOES NOT APPLY TO READOPTIONS, STEPPARENT ADOPTIONS, SECOND PARENT ADOPTIONS, RELATIVE ADOPTIONS AND/OR ADULT ADOPTIONS. But if you are seeking to adopt an unrelated child, to find a potential adoptable baby, or birth parents who want to place a baby born to them or due to be born to them in the future with you, you cannot use adoption facilitators or attorneys at law to help with that search.
AS A REMINDER, THE ABOVE CHANGE IN THE LAW ONLY APPLIES IN CASES WHERE ADOPTING PARENTS SEEK TO FIND A BABY TO ADOPT OR A MINOR CHILD TO ADOPT, OR SEEK TO MATCH WITH A WOMAN WHO IS PREGNANT AND WISHES TO MAKE AN ADOPTION PLAN. SO IF YOU ARE SEEKING TO COMPLETE AN ADULT ADOPTION, OR ADOPT A STEPCHILD, OR ADOPT A RELATIVE’S CHILD, OR ADOPT A SPOUSE’S CHILD OR CONDUCT A READOPTION OF A CHILD ADOPTED BY YOU IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY SO THAT YOU CAN GET A UNITED STATES CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH FOR THE CHILD, THE RESTRICTIONS ABOVE DO NOT APPLY.
Which adoption attorney should I hire?
When you evaluate which attorney to hire you may wish to consider whether the attorney has experience in adoption, whether the attorney is also an adoptive parent and whether being an adoptive parent may provide the attorney with extra insight into your concerns and desires. Is the attorney a member of recognized organizations of adoption attorneys such as the Academy of California Adoption and ART Lawyers an/or the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (membership requirements in both academies are quite strict and the practice standards required for membership are higher than the typical State Bar requirements for attorney conduct)?
If the attorney you are considering is not a member of at least one of these academies, you should beware. Either the attorney does not meet the ethical standards for admission or the attorney may lack the experience to qualify for admission. Finally be wary of the attorney who is not accessible to you–who loads the front office with people who run interference for him or her. In our office, I personally do the legal work on your case. My clients do not hire my staff to do their work–they hire me. We don’t forget that–don’t let the attorney you hire forget it either!
We don’t live in California. Can we still use your legal services?
Non-residents who enter into an adoption plan with birth parents residing in California may finalize their adoptions in California even if the adoptive parents do not own or rent in California and even if they come into the state solely to pick up their adoptive child so long as the birth mother resides in California,
The residency requirement for birth parents is that the birth parent must be a resident of the state of California at the time after the baby is born when she or they either: 1.) Relinquish to a licensed California adoption agency or 2.) When they sign a consent to adoption. Adoptive parents who live outside of California may then petition to finalize their adoption in California. When the adoption was ultimately finalized in California, the adoptive parents would not have to re-finalize in their home state!
Can you help me unseal my ORIGINAL birth certificate and my sealed adoption records?
Unsealing Adoption Records and Original Birth Certificates
Yes we can and you do not need to be a resident of California for us to help you! Occasionally for medical or other significant reasons, adoptees want to have access to their original birth certificate to locate their biological parent or parents or to unseal their adoption file to find out medical, familial or other important historical information concerning their biological parents. In California adoptions are confidential proceedings.
At the time the adoption is finalized the original birth record including the original birth certificate is sealed and a revised birth certificate is issued and mailed by the Bureau of Vital Records to the adoptive family. Because adoptions are confidential in this state, California law requires that a Court issue an order to unseal the birth record and the adoption file if access is to be given to inquiring parties.
Petitions to gain access to birth record information are brought under California Health and Safety Code section 102705. They are commenced by filing a Petition for Birth Record Information and often supported by competent written declarations showing “good and compelling cause” as required under the statute.
The Judge will review the petition and supporting declarations and then determine whether the request for permission to inspect the records and/or obtain copies of the records relating to the birth of the person seeking the records should be granted. The Court does not automatically grant all requests.
Good and compelling cause must be shown in the petition and accompanying affidavits before the Judge will grant the petition. If you do not demonstrate good and compelling grounds for unsealing the records, your petition will likely be denied. Mere curiosity about the applicant’s birth parentage is insufficient grounds under California law to unseal the records.
In addition to that petition, an additional petition for an order authorizing the individual seeking information to obtain additional information from their adoption file. The Court may order that the clerk provide a certified copy of the Order of Adoption, the Petition for Adoption or in some instances the entire adoption file including informational forms completed by the birth and adoptive parents during the adoption process for the State Department of Social Services or the local designated public or private adoption agency and reports submitted as a part of the adoption paperwork.
To obtain this information an application must be filed and certain basic information including the names of the adopting parents, the date of adoption or the adoptee’s birth date and the reason for the request must be provided.
The application is reviewed by the Court bearing in mind the provisions of Family Code section 9200 which prohibits the release of any adoption information from the sealed records in an adoption case except in “exceptional circumstances and for good cause approaching the necessitous.”
If your adoption was finalized in California, our office will assist you in seeking approval from the Court to obtain information concerning your adoption and in seeking approval of a petition to provide you with birth record information.