Adopting a child is a very stressful and complicated process, but it is more than worth the stress when all's said and done. Thankfully, an adoption attorney or a family law attorney can help make the process much less stressful by helping you to find a legitimate adoption agency and deal with a private adoption arrangement.
Find An Adoption Agency
One of the best ways that an attorney can help you with the adoption process is by helping you to find a reputable and legitimate adoption agency. This is important because it is not all that rare to run into a seemingly legitimate adoption agency that will offer to help you find and adopt a child, only to have them disappear completely once you have given them some money.
An adoption attorney can help you avoid this outcome by looking into the background of any adoption agency in order to determine if they are safe for you to do business with. If the attorney discovers that the agency has not been in operation for very long or has a person who has committed fraud on his or her record on staff, then your attorney will advise you to move on. Some other red flags that your attorney will look for are numerous complaints against the agency or lack of a physical address.
Your attorney can also simplify the process of finding a good adoption agency by simply providing you with the contact information for a few adoptions agencies that he or she has worked with over the course of his or her career. This is a great option as it will allow you to almost completely eliminate the risk of running into fraudulent adoption agencies.
Help with Private Adoption Arrangements
A private adoption is a common form of adoption that bypasses the use of an adoption agency. In many cases, people will choose to arrange for a private adoption because it can be cheaper than working through an agency. A private adoption will often require that you agree to pay for the pregnant woman's pregnancy-related bills until the baby is born, at which point you will be able to proceed with the adoption.
The risk in this type of arrangement is that the pregnant woman can change her mind and keep the child. However, your attorney can create a contract to protect you in the event that this occurs.
If you and the pregnant woman sign a contract stating what is expected from both sides, you will not necessarily be able to force the issue and get custody of the baby if the mother changes her mind. What you will be able to do is use the contract as the basis for a lawsuit in order to get all of the money that you spent on pregnancy-related expenses reimbursed because the birth mother did not fulfill her end of the contract.
Speak to a family lawyer or adoption attorney today in order to discuss how he or she can help you throughout the adoption process. An adoption attorney can help you find legitimate adoption agencies and help to mitigate the financial risk that can be present in a private adoption.
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