ADOPTING FAMILY RIGHTS
In order to help avoid problems during the adoption process you should understand your rights and the rights of other parties involved. A licensed adoption agency or adoption attorney can help protect your rights.
In general, once a child has been placed with you, you have the right and responsibility to care for the child and make sure the child has his/her physical, emotional, and spiritual needs met. But the child is not yours until the actual adoption takes place.
We are a not-for-profit agency that, since 1985, has successfully completed over 900 placements. Feel free to call (1(800)943-0400) or click on the link Contact Us. We have a five-star rating on Google. You can always visit our testimonial pages (see the link on the right).
However, unless and until the parental rights of the birth mother and birth father have been ended, the child is still theirs. If the child has been in foster care your rights are limited by those given to you by the foster care authority. If the child has been placed directly from the birth parent to you, your rights may be limited by what the birth mother and birth father want.
The Rights of an Adopting Family
In general you have the right to select and work with an adoption agency or adoption attorney of your choice.
It is difficult to relate exactly what your rights are because several issues. For example, your rights can be affected by the type of adoption since whether you are engaging in an international child adoption or a domestic child adoption and whether the adoption is a foster care adoption, an intrastate child adoption or an interstate child adoption, or an adoption done with an adoption facilitator.
In general, until the parental rights have been ended you have all the responsibility for the child’s welfare but none of the rights of a parent.
Additional Help and Resources
To learn more about your rights visit the link Birth Parents Rights. The link State Adoption Laws and ChildAdoptionLaws.com may be helpful.
For help finding an adoption agency please visit the links Adoption Agencies: Domestic and Adoption Agencies: International.
Adoption Services has 40+ years of experience with both the voluntary and involuntary termination of parental rights. We are able to help you with an international adoption or a domestic adoption. Please visit our home page to read about our commitment to help adoptive parents as well as birth parents.
LawAndParents offers information for parents wishing to learn about their legal responsibilities and their rights in relation to their children.