ADOPTION SERVICES

 

 

We represent pre-adoptive and adoptive parents at any point before or during the adoption process:

·   We offer general adoption consultations for those considering adoption, but unsure where to start and what options are available.  

· We assist many prospective adoptive parents in reviewing adoption situations and reviewing and negotiating adoption documents, such as legal risk acknowledgments, placement agreements, and open adoption agreements.

·   We advocate for pre-adoptive parents working with agencies in order to ensure that any birth parents' rights are properly and promptly terminated and to ensure that the pre-adoptive parents' legal finalization occurs as expeditiously as possible.

·   We handle step-parent adoptions, parent-initiated agency adoptions, international re-finalizations, as well as post-ART adoptions (following a traditional surrogacy birth, for same-sex couples wishing to bolster the legality of their joint parentage, and single parents using donor gametes).

~~ In accordance with Massachusetts law, we do not locate birth parents or children, or facilitate adoptions ~~

 

 

We represent birth parents, including minor birth parents, at any point during the adoption process:

· We advise birth parents as to their legal rights and obligations to their children, explains the surrender process, and negotiates open adoption agreements.  

 

 

We provides legal services to licensed Massachusetts adoption agencies, including:

· Counsel to several Massachusetts licensed child-placement agencies; our services include advice to, and representation of, agencies relative to legal requirements for termination of birthparent rights, including filing petitions to dispense with parental consent, and finalizations of adoption. General advice to agencies regarding changing court procedures relative to adoption, and specific requirements of varied courts.

· Individual case-by-case matters upon request, including: court briefs, drafting and reviewing agency documents.