Rancho Cucamonga Adoption Lawyer

A successful adoption is the foundation upon which your new family’s future and happiness will be built. Make sure your family gets the best chance for success possible by working with a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer.

Adoption isn’t a simple process. While the end goal of giving a child a loving home and family is one of the most virtuous things a person or couple can do, the state is extremely cautious in approving new adoptions.

If you are planning to expand your family by adopting a child, there are a number of complex legal hurdles ahead of you. Clarity makes any situation easier to successfully navigate, and a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer from the Law Office of Laurence J. Brock can help you untangle the necessary steps and bring your new family together.

Adoption Options

There is more than one way to adopt a child. Typically, adoptions are either open or closed, but a hybrid solution may be found if all of the parties involved can come to an agreement. Which situation you are most comfortable with will determine which type of adoption you should pursue:

In a standard open adoption, the child remains free to contact his or her birth parents and vice versa. This may include limited visitation, phone calls, and the like.
In a closed adoption, the child—and often the adoptive parents—is unaware of who the birth mother is.

Protecting Parental Rights

Adoptive parents have the same rights as birth parents once the legal process is complete. However, the type of adoption and any agreements entered into pre-adoption can impact those rights later.

This makes it necessary to hire a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer to ensure that your legal rights and relationship with your new child cannot be threatened by the birth parents changing their mind later.

Reasons for Adoption

The reasons that adoptive parents work with a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer are many and varied, covering a number of potential situations in which a child would benefit from the relationship. In all of these instances, retaining a family law attorney to protect both your rights and the future of your family is highly beneficial:

Stepparents who desire to adopt their stepchildren after entering into a marriage or domestic partnership with one of the birth parents
Family members who want to adopt a child due to the death or incapacity of the birth parents
Foster parents who would like to adopt a child in their care

Help with Adoption

If you are working with an adoption agency—whether national or international—do not assume that they have your best interests in mind or that they are protecting your future. While helpful in connecting you with your child, they are rarely well-trained in all areas of family law.

You can benefit the most by working with both a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer and an adoption agency simultaneously. This can help the process go faster and smoother and leave you and your new family legally protected when everything is completed and made official.

The Adoption Process and Paperwork

The type of paperwork that needs to be filed with the court will depend upon the current relationship that you have with the child. For example, a stepparent who was married to a birth parent when the child was born will use different forms than others.

The general process of an adoption is as follows:

Filing the initial paperwork with the court
Serving the birth parent(s)
Getting the consent of the birth parent(s) for the adoption
An interview with an investigator
Scheduling a court date

Your Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer will represent you during the entire process and ensure both that you are well-prepared and informed and that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Contact a Rancho Cucamonga Adoption Lawyer

Adoption might be a complicated process, but your new family can still get the happy ending you want. To start the adoption process, discuss your legal options, and protect your rights, contact the Law Office of Laurence J. Brock to speak with a Rancho Cucamonga adoption lawyer during a consultation. To get started, simply call 909-466-7661 or complete the form below.