Adoptive Parent Representation

I began my law practice representing prospective adoptive parents in domestic adoption matters (also known as private placement adoption or attorney assisted adoption) and continue to do so to this day. As an adoptee myself, I understand the essence of a family created through adoption and I’ve made it my mission to help as many people as possible experience the joys of parenthood.

Private adoption is the process where adoptive parents and birth parents choose one another through private channels, rather than with the help of an adoption agency. Usually, private adoption results in a unique relationship between the child’s biological parents and the prospective adoptive parents. When beginning work with an attorney who specializes in domestic adoptions, like myself, you are led through the process of becoming an approved adoptive family in your state of residence. Some of the steps in this process include being interviewed by a social worker for a homestudy. The homestudy is written by a licensed social worker or an agency and details the adoptive parents’ background and home demonstrating the family’s fitness to become parents of a child. We handle the details beyond this, resulting in a court proceeding (for New York families) that ensures you’re legally certified as an adoptive parent and authorized to take custody of a child.
 
After your family is approved, you work with us to develop a strategy with the intent of matching with a birth mother who is considering an adoption plan. When you connect with prospective birth parents, we obtain information surrounding the birth parents’ family and social histories as well as information regarding the health of the baby, all of which help you decide if the adoption match is right for you. If you proceed, you may meet the birth parent(s) in person, and you may be asked to provide financial support to your birthmother, if legally permissible.
 
After the baby is born, we obtain the baby’s hospital medical records for you to bring to your pediatrician. We also finalize the adoption in a legal proceeding a few months after the birth of the child.

We’re here for you. Please reach out.

As adoption and reproductive law attorneys, The Law Offices of Laurie B. Goldheim serve as a primary resource, counsel and partner to clients who seek to grow their families by contemporary means and methods, as recognized by the courts of New York and New Jersey.