Media Adoption Lawyer
Starting or growing a family by adopting a child can be one of life’s most fulfilling experiences, and assisting with adoptions is certainly one of the most satisfying aspects of our family law practice at Barbara Flum Stein & Associates. Although intensely rewarding in the end, the adoption process can be difficult, complicated, time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, if an adoption does not go as planned, or if disputes later arise, the results can be heartbreaking. Let Media adoption lawyer Barbara Flum Stein advise and represent you in your adoption process, so that you get it done right the first time, efficiently and effectively, with your family’s rights and interests protected now and into the future.
Navigate the Tangled Web of Private Adoptions
Using an adoption agency to facilitate your adoption can help ensure that the process is completed properly and all relevant issues are covered. However, agency adoptions are considerably more expensive and complicated than dealing directly with the birth mother or birth parents. Not only are private adoptions less expensive than agency adoptions, they are less formal and can be more easily customized to meet your needs. If utilizing a private adoption process, it is more important than ever to be represented by smart, experienced and effective legal counsel. You will want to make sure that important legal rights are protected and that important aspects of the adoption are considered. For instance, will there be any information sharing among the birth parents, adoptive parents and adopted child, or will names and addresses be kept strictly confidential? Important matters such as these need to be spelled out from the beginning to prevent disputes down the road. At Barbara Flum Stein & Associates, our experienced Pennsylvania adoption attorney can negotiate all relevant terms of the adoption and draft or review all needed legal documents to effectuate the adoption and protect your and your child’s rights.
Solidify Family Bonds with Stepparent Adoptions
An important decision after a remarriage is whether the stepfather should take the formal step to legally adopt any children from the wife’s previous marriage. Adopting your wife’s children can have several benefits to them, including creating a legal right to financial support during your lifetime as well as inheritance rights after you are gone, and access to health insurance through your employer. A formal adoption can also help form and strengthen emotional bonds and family relationships for everyone. Careful consideration must be given, however, to the rights and interests of the child’s natural father, who may object to the adoption. In such a case, legal grounds for adoption must be proven in a courtroom hearing, which can be fraught with high emotion and conflict. Media family law attorney Barbara Flum Stein is an experienced courtroom litigator who fights hard for the rights of her clients in Pennsylvania courts in contested stepparent adoptions or other family law matters.
Aggressive Advocacy in the Protection or Termination of Parental Rights
A biological parent has legal rights to custody or visitation with his or her child, unless terminated or modified by a court. That parent also has a legal obligation to support the child financially, an obligation that may be terminated if parental rights are terminated. An adoption – whether a private adoption or stepparent adoption – will typically involve the termination of parental rights of the biological parent. Unless that parent voluntary gives up their parental rights, these rights would have to be terminated in court. There are a number of statutory grounds in Pennsylvania law that could support a termination of parental rights, but it is up to the adoptive parents to prove the facts in court supporting the proposition that the biological parent is unfit, abandoned the child, or otherwise should have parental rights terminated.
Effective Legal Help is Available for Delaware County Adoptions
For help navigating a private adoption or stepparent adoption in Pennsylvania, enforcing an adoption agreement in court or litigating the termination of parental rights, contact Barbara Flum Stein & Associates in Media at 610-565-6100 for help from a knowledgeable and dedicated Media adoption lawyer.
