If you are making an adoption plan for your unborn child it is important that you have the support of adoption professionals - social workers & lawyers.
Adoption is a beautiful and emotional journey that social workers in an adoption agency are best able to support you through. Family Connections, Inc. is a licensed adoption agency in New York that has been supporting birth mothers for over twenty-years. This Agency can ensure that your decision regarding adoption is respected and honored. The Agency will provide you:
-The right to make your own decisions regarding the placement of your child for adoption; all the choices are yours!
-adoption option choices (e.g. confidential vs. semi-open vs. open adoption)
-a choice of qualified adoptive parents who are wanting and waiting to adopt
-assistance with food, clothing, housing, counseling, and medical care
-assurance that your wishes for post-adoption contact are respected
The right adoption agency is key to ensuring a positive and successful adoption. Family Connections, Inc. will be your advocate and guarantee that all the choices are yours!
Family Connections will ALSO provide you with a lawyer. This service is free to birth mothers. We believe that it is important that a birth mother has a lawyer who is on her side and is working for her.
In New York State, the birth parent(s), adoptive parents, and adoption agency must each have their own lawyer. They cannot be represented by the same lawyer. A birth mother and birth father may agree to use the same lawyer or the birth father can ask for a different lawyer. This ensures that your lawyer is only concerned with your plan and is not influenced by the adoption agency, adoptive parents, or birth father. Please know that if you choose to place your child for adoption in another State, that State may not require that you have a lawyer. Thus, your rights may not be protected if you place your child outside of New York State.
To ensure that your rights and best interests are protected it is important that you have a lawyer who can represent you. A lawyer can:
- Provide you with an unbiased explanation of adoption procedures
- Explain adoption law and your rights as a birth mother, birth father, or as an adoptive parent
- Assess the risks of your adoption plan.
Your lawyer can determine what the potential risks may be in your adoption plan and will help reduce those risks. For example a lawyer can explain the risks involved when there is 1) an uninvolved or unknown birth father, 2) need expenses, 3) a post adoption contact agreement, 4) an adoptive placement in another state, etc.
-Determine what are allowable birth parent expenses
Your lawyer will talk to you about your need for support during your pregnancy and post-delivery recovery time. He/she will then work with your adoption agency (for example, Family Connections, Inc.) to help you get needed clothing, housing, medical assistance, and transportation. Your lawyer will make sure that any support you receive is allowed under the law.
- Review and negotiate post adoption contact agreements between a birth parent and adoptive family to ensure that the agreement is in your and the child’s best interests.
In New York State birth parents can have a court enforceable Post Adoption Contact Agreement that states your requirements for post-adoption contact with the adoptive family. For example, you may request pictures/letters regarding the child be provided to you throughout the child’s youth and/or face-to-face visitation with the adoptive family. Your lawyer will explain to you your choices for post-adoption contact and will help you to make a Post Adoption Contact Agreement with the adoptive parents and the adoption agency.
- Be an advocate for you and the child
Your lawyer is responsible to act in your best interests and advocate for you and the child. Your lawyer can help you get needed resources, for example, food, clothing, and housing. He/she can help you work with your adoption agency and your chosen adoptive family to develop a Post Adoption Contact Agreement. Your lawyer is there for you!
-Ensure that your adoption plan is legally secure
Your lawyer will make sure that your plan for the adoption of your child meets all State and Federal legal requirements. He/she will ensure that your decision to place your child will be approved by the courts.
Adoption is governed by state and federal laws, case law, and regulations. Lawyers who are members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys are best able to support birth parents through the legal requirements of adoption. The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys is a national association of approximately 340 attorneys who practice in the field of adoption law. You can find a listing of lawyers who are members of the Academy at www.adoptionattorneys.org. Family Connections, Inc. always refers birth mother to lawyers who are members of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.
An adoption lawyer and experienced adoption agency is important to ensuring that a birth parent has a successful adoption. To learn more about your adoption choices, please contact Family Connections, Inc. at 1-607-756-6574 or email info@adoptfamilyconnections.org.
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