Are you planning to file for an adoption for a child? No matter what the reason, we can assure you this is the one of the best decisions you can make for a happy home. Children are such a blessing, by obtaining the parental rights in their lives not only means being able to live with them but also to be able to make their lives better by giving them the love and care they deserve.
Is adoption the same as foster parenting?
Adoption, generally speaking, is a process by which a couple or an individual obtains parental rights over a child. Contrary to foster parenting, whereby alive parents give away caregiving of the child to another couple, adoption is legal process that usually happens in the absence of one or both the parents; this could be due to natural reasons such as death or abandonment of the child. In the latter case state departments or private agencies take the child in shelter.
What is Third party adoption?
Among several other types, this is one of the very common types of adoption that whereby the adoptive parents seek parental rights of an unrelated child. While you would assume this would take place through an agency, these type of adoptions take place with reference from one’s own network of friends and family. Particularly, the biological and adoptive parents make a mutually agreed decision to arrange the adoption; the biological parent gives up the parental rights in this case with willful consent. There is no involvement of an agency in the process; hence the terminology of independent or private adoption for the same too.
Even with third party adoptions,the court assesses and decrees whether or not the adoption is granted to the prospective adoptive parents.
How can I file for a third party adoption?
Like any other form of adoption, third party adoptions have a set of steps you need to follow. As a resident of Georgia, all elements have to be compliant with the Georgia adoption laws. Usually, a good firm of adoption lawyers like Thomas Tebeau III should see you through it all with ease; the complexity and plethora of documentation required would leave your mind boggled otherwise.
Since the child you are adopting is already from a family or friend’s home, you are in no need to look for a child from an agency. However, once both parents have agreed to the adoption you would be taking the following steps
- Appointing an attorney: Finding the right attorney is more than half the job in third party adoptions. Usually, if you are have filing an adoption case in Atlanta, you can find a quality and reliable attorney in the directory of Georgia Council of Adoption Lawyers (GCAL). A good reference should also serve the purpose especially from personal experience.
- Written consent of the parents: Simply agreeing to the adoption is not enough. For the matter of clarity, confirmation and also for legal reasons, the biological parents must consent for adoption in writing. By doing so, they are actually consenting the transfer of parental rights to the adoptive parents thereby terminating the same at their own end.
In many countries, the court may allow the biological parents to take up to a month should they like to change their mind. At the end, they are required to sign off the legal documents by which the rights are handed over to the adoptive parents.
- Written consent from the child: This is applicable only if the child’s age exceeds a certain limit. Adoption attorneys in Atlanta would reconfirm that the age is 14 years, this may vary by country. However, the requirement as a mandatory makes absolute sense as the child’s mental peace and wellbeing otherwise is kept paramount in all cases. Also, the child must also acknowledge the consent in the presence of the judge.
- Home-study and background check: The mere purpose of this step is to ensure that adoptive parents have a favorable reputation, satisfactory records as a citizen and the ability to manage the adopted child financially and socially.
Once the aforementioned broadly mentioned steps have been completed, the court decides whether or not to grant the adoption, paper work is completed and the official records are sealed. For the matter of privacy for both families, the only documents you would get as adoptive parents would be things like the child’s revised birth certificate and the ruling from the judge, only for your record.
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