Family Law
1) Define adoption, distinguish between an independent and an agency adoption, and distinguish between and open and a closed adoption.
2) Identify the basic steps in the adoption process.
3) Identify the kinds of circumstances in which a person’s parental rights may be terminated.
4) Identify the nature and purpose of permanency planning.
5) Identify who must consent to an adoption, under what circumstances a consent can be revoked, and three circumstances in which an adoption may be challenged.
Please use complete sentences and answer these questions in your own words so that you can demonstrate your knowledge of the topics.
Family Law
Adoption is the judicial process by which a new parent-child relationship is formed (Pearson). It can be via agency adoption where the adoption process is facilitated by a public or private agency licensed by the state or via independent adoption where the biological parents are allowed to have input on the process in the presence of a third party. Options include no contact at all for closed while open adoptions allow all parties to see each other. The process begins with first identifying biological parents followed by freeing the child for adoption either by parental consent or termination of parental rights. If the potential adoptive parents succeed, a notice is served to all the parties involved before a preliminary hearing is held, transferring custody to the adoptive parents.
Parental rights are usually guarded by the law hence, for termination to occur, a parent must have willfully neglected the child either financially, in terms of contact, providing security, or failing to follow court-ordered family rehabilitation programs. Permanency planning is designed to move children as soon as possible into healthy, stable and permanent homes (Pearson). It puts the child’s physiological and safety needs first by ensuring the child is not stuck in a temporary home.
The mother’s consent is necessary, but if parental rights have been terminated, biological parents’ consent is not required. Consent may be revoked if the biological parents or child being adopted claim they were coerced or consent was achieved through fraud. Finally, the three main circumstances under which challenges to adoption may arise include unwed biological fathers not receiving notice of adoption, biological parents seeking to revoke consent and adoptive parents who seek to repeal an adoption they feel did not pass through the right steps.
References
Wilson, M. (2016). Family law for the paralegal: Concepts and Applications (3rd ed.). Pearson.
