Open Adoption Attorney

independent adoption consent

2012-01-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

I am meeting with a birthmom today to witness her signing consent in an interstate adoption with an adopting couple from Washington. Happy New Year to them :)

Grandparent Open Adoption

2011-12-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

New clients came in today to adopt their five year old granddaughter. They have had legal guardianship of her for fifteen months. In California, guardians can petition for adoption without the consent of the biological parents if they have had a guardianship for more than one year. In this case their son has not stayed in contact with them or the child and bio mom was staying in touch somewhat until three months ago but is now currently "off the radar." Both biological parents have had ongoing problems with drug use. This adopting couple stays in touch with bio mom's family including her siblings and parents, so the child will continue to have a relationship with her other grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and her brother, who lives with the other grandparents. Adoption by these grandparents will give the child permanent stability with no possibility of returning to the life she was previously exposed to. Bio mom will be allowed continuing contact with the child supervised by either set of grandparents.

Birthmom in labor

2011-04-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

One of our birthmoms went into labor today. She is local and called our office. She does not have a support system to be with her. Debbie and Marcia, my paralegal and my office manager, went to the hospital this afternoon to be with her. They took her some books and stayed with her so she would not be alone. Adopting parents are on the way to also be with her.

Step-parent adoption with birth father concerns

2011-04-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

We had new clients today for a step-parent adoption. This was a typical situation where people waited to think about step-dad adopting until biological father started coming back into the picture. There had be no contact from bio-dad for 19 months. Now he has started calling and saying he wants to see the child, a 4 year old boy. This man has NEVER paid any child support and has never parented. He had visited in the past but visits are not parenting. Under California law this man is known as an alleged father. He was not married to the mother, never lived with her and his name is NOT on the birth certificate. We filed the adoption petition today and filed a petition to terminate the parental rights of the biological father. He may answer our petition, but does not have grounds to win, as he has never supported or parented the child.

My son's open adoption

2011-04-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is our favorite time of year because we are invited to Grandma Judy's house for Easter. She is my son, Tim's birth grandmother. Her family is awesome. My husband and I will be going from here along with my daughter, Liz, and her boyfriend, Mike. Tim will leave from San Luis Obispo, where he is attending college. We will meet somewhere and arrive together. Judy and Charlie's house is so awesome at Easter. Lots of little kids running around hunting for eggs and tons of great food. There are usually around thirty people for this event and we are honored to be included. We will visit with Tim's entire birth family for three days. Can't wait.

awesome march for open adoption

2011-04-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

We had three awesome new birthmoms in March. All three have chosen wonderful families for their babies. All three babies will be placed at birth with parents who want to stay in touch with their childl's birthmom. One of the birthmoms interviewed two couples before choosing. She had a difficult time choosing but finally went with the couple who lives on acerage and raises a popular local crop for a national market. Another of the birthmoms chose a family with similar interests to hers and the third chose a family where the new dad looks something like her brother. You just never know what will make a birthmom choose a particular couple. That's why it's so important for couple to put lots of information about themselves into their profile.