tas_logo
email buttonprint buttonbookmark button newsletter button

Your Location: -- (Change Location)

You are here: Home: >> Public: >> Family Law & Divorce: >> Adoption

Adoption

There are several types of adoption procedures that provide individuals with different options, whether choosing to adopt a child or put a child up for adoption. Each type of adoption is specific to a particular circumstance.Adoptive Mother and Child

Types of Adoption:

  • Agency Adoption: Agencies assist mothers who are willing to give up their children and work to place the child with appropriate adoptive parents.
  • Related Adoption: Adoption through which a relative formally adopts the child in the event that the biological parents are deceased or unable to care for the child.
  • Open Adoption: In an open adoption, the adoptive parents agree to allow the biological mother or father to continue to have some degree of contact with the child. An adoption agreement will determine how much contact the biological parents will maintain.
  • Stepparent Adoption: In this case, a child’s biological parent remarries and the stepparent chooses to adopt the child.
  • Private Adoption: A person may seek the assistance of an adoption attorney to arrange a legal adoption without the use of an agency. Private adoptions may be more complicated but in many cases avoid the longer waiting lists involved in agency adoptions.

Open Adoption

Open Adoption is a very common case today in which the adoptive parents become acquainted with and stay in touch with the biological parents. Today, biological parents have some control over who the adoptive parents are, and can choose after researching biographies given by an agency. The birthparents and adoptive parents may choose to meet and stay in contact throughout the pregnancy. In many instances the adoptive parents are able to witness their child#’s birth.

Closed Adoption

This type of adoption is rare today but was once the norm. During this type of adoption process, the adoptive parents are not given any information on where the child is from or who the child’s biological parents are. The case is handled by an agency or social worker and the adoptive parents names are put on a list and a match is eventually made. After the adoption is made the case files are usually sealed and in many cases the child is unaware that he/she has been adopted. This type of adoption is more common in international adoption cases.

Adoption Costs

An adoption agency charges a fee that will cover the birthmother’s expenses (medical, living expenses, and counseling). An agency may charge a flat fee or work on a sliding scale that is determined by the income level of the adoptive family. Public agencies, however, usually do not charge a fee to the birthmother for finding a well suited home for the child.

Visit these helpful links:

Adoption Policy Resource Center

Adoption Overview

Adoptive Parents Information



Find An Attorney








Attorney Store LogoList Your Office