Divorcing And Adopting All At Once? How To Settle Some Major Issues On Two Legal Fronts

Typically, when a couple decides to adopt, they are both making the commitment to parent the child or children they have chosen. However, the adoption process can take up to two years, from filing the first documents to finally bringing the child home, and a lot can change in a marriage in two years. If you find that you are in the middle of a divorce or separation that is headed for divorce and you and your spouse are about to be adoptive parents, here are some issues that could arise and how a divorce attorney or family law attorney could help.

Reversal of Adoption Fortune

If the adoption agency gets wind of the fact that you and your spouse are divorcing, you could lose the opportunity to adopt the child you were hoping to call your own. The biggest reason for this is that open adoptions give the birth mother the chance to choose who to give her child to. If she selected you and your spouse based upon the fact that you two represented the mother and father she wanted her child to have, she has the right to change her mind and refuse to give you her child. The months you waited to finally get a child would be for naught.

You would have to hire a family lawyer who is well-versed in adoption law in order to fight the birth mother's choice to renege on her agreement with you. You would also have to show that you can care for the child as a single parent, if you still wanted to pursue the adoption. Although it is not impossible for a single parent to adopt a child, there are more hoops to jump through, e.g., can you afford to care for a child on your own, how much time you have to care for the child when you are working, etc. An adoption lawyer will definitely help.

Divorcing and Your Ex Wants to Parent the Adopted Child

This is a very sensitive and tricky area of law. After all, the child the two of you wanted to adopt is not quite yours yet. If the adoption had been finalized prior to your divorce, then both of you would share custody of your child, barring any unusual circumstances such as domestic violence or abuse. Should the birth mother still agree to give you her child, then your ex may be given parental rights if her or his information is on the finalized adoption papers. However, it is important that your divorce lawyer like one from Goldberg Katzman PC put off the finalization of your divorce until your adoption hearing and process has been completed.