What is an Agency Adoption in Oklahoma?
Adoption is a blessing to many families and the children that are adopted across Oklahoma. Some families turn to adoption as the only option to have children, some turn to adoption to grow their family, and some families are called to adoption by their faith or their heart. Whatever the reason families seek to adopt a child, it can be a life-altering and wonderful experience. There are many roads to adoption, including agency adoption in Oklahoma. Agency adoptions can be complicated and stressful as more parties are involved and legal complexities are common for agency adoptions.
Agency adoption is the only option for many prospective parents and it can be difficult emotionally. The best way we have found to face the emotional toll of agency adoption is to understand everything in the process and know what options and risks there are at every step of your adoption process. You and your family should have many questions about agency adoption if you are considering it as an option to adopt a child in Oklahoma.
We hope this resource and others on our website provides you answers to your questions. Our OKC adoption attorneys are here to answer your questions and address all of your concerns related to agency adoptions.
FREE RESOURCES FROM CANNON & ASSOCIATES
Please find free resources available on our website and our YouTube page. Also, you may call us anytime 405-591-3935 for a free confidential case strategy session to have your adoption questions answered.
OKC Attorneys for Agency Adoption
Your Fierce Advocates® at Cannon and Associates are dedicated to serving you throughout your adoption. Our OKC attorneys use our collective experience to make the process as stress-free as possible for you and strive to do the heavy lifting for your family along the way.
Many parts of an agency adoption in Oklahoma are predictable and we can forecast much of what you will expect along the road to adoption in Oklahoma; however, every agency adoption has its own unique challenges. Our OKC lawyers and our entire team are dedicated to making the process as smooth and stress-free as possible for you and your entire family.
What is Agency Adoption in Oklahoma?
An agency adoption is where adoptive parents are connected to birth parents through an “agency” or organization. Unlike a kinship adoption where you are seeking to adopt a child in your family or extended family, an agency adoption involves the search for a child to adopt in Oklahoma or beyond.
Finding a birth mother that wants to place her child in a wonderful home for adoption is not an easy task. Working with a trusted agency takes the stress out of this part of the process as the agency provides resources to birth mothers and assists them in the journey. As a result, adoption agencies build relationships with birth mothers and connect them to prospective families to adopt. Our OKC attorneys and our entire team can assist you in identifying a respectable agency, as things can go very poorly if you work with a less-than-reputable agency.
Additionally, agencies have substantial fees, which are often more than our legal fees for your adoption in Oklahoma. When you retain an experienced OKC lawyer before hiring an agency, you can increase your certainty that you are working with a reputable agency. We would be glad to provide you with a list of credible agencies that work in Oklahoma, as well as across the country or internationally if you are interested in an international adoption.
What concerns go along with Agency Adoptions?
Agency adoptions come with a wider variety of issues than kinship adoptions. The additional element of an agency in your adoption means you will have an additional cost as well as potential conflict and communication issues with the agency. We work hand in hand with every client to ensure they have clarity and open communication with the agency our clients select.
Less than reputable adoption agencies will sometimes falsify information about prospective birth mothers and/or hold your information back from prospective birth mothers in an effort to finalize placement with an adoptive family that has been waiting longer to be selected by a birth mother.
In agency adoptions, you may feel your family is being advertised to prospective birth mothers regarding the life a prospective adopted child will live with you. Needless to say, this can be a stressful endeavor. Our Oklahoma lawyers and the entire legal team work with you to ease the process of building your prospective adoptive parent package that birth parents will see.
Many prospective adoptive families feel they are under a microscope from every birth mother or set of birth parents considering adoption; however, we work hard to mitigate your stress through this process and keep you focused on your goal of bringing a child into your home.
Agency adoptions come with additional legal documents and parties from the state in an effort to ensure that everything is above board and the entire process is done ethically. When you work with an experienced and respected Oklahoma attorney, you can feel certain that your adoption will pass the hurdles put in place by the state.
The Oklahoma laws related to agency adoptions are strict and require complete compliance with every step along the way to your Oklahoma agency adoption. This is one of many reasons that working with an experienced OKC lawyer from the start is the wisest move to ensure your adoption is peaceful and enforceable in Oklahoma.
Is an Agency Adoption right for me?
If you are a birth parent considering adoption, there are few greater gifts that you can give to your child or another family than placing your child in a wonderful home. We are proud to not only support adoptive families in Oklahoma but also birth mothers and birth parents seeking to place a child in adoption. As a birth parent, agency adoption provides you with another resource to ensure that your rights are protected during the process. However, working with an Oklahoma attorney is an important option to consider as well, as your legal fees will be covered by the adoptive parents.
If you are a potential adoptive family, agency adoption may be the best option for you, if you have not identified a birth parent for an independent adoption. When you work with the right agency, they will make the process easier for you. Additionally, our Oklahoma lawyers are experienced in facilitating a smooth process between you, the agency of your choice, and the birth parents.
Adoption with the assistance of an agency is a very rewarding experience; however, due to the complexities of the process, it is important you work with an experienced Oklahoma attorney to streamline the process for you and ensure your rights are protected. Adoption agencies are well-intended organizations; however, they are not lawyers and cannot ensure your legal rights are protected during the process in court.
What steps are involved in an agency adoption in Oklahoma?
As stated above, the decision to place your child up for adoption or seek to adopt is a difficult process both emotionally and procedurally. Agency adoptions, when handled by a reputable agency, are smoother than individual adoptions. The process involved in an agency adoption is largely the same as the Oklahoma adoption process for a kinship adoption, except for the process for a prospective adoptive family connecting to a birth mother or birth parents.
The following is a basic overview of the steps to in an agency adoption in Oklahoma:
I. Planning an Agency Adoption in Oklahoma
- Family Effects: agency adoption is a life-altering event for all the involved parties. The dynamics within your family before and after an agency adoption must be considered. Our Oklahoma attorneys recommend you consider taking advantage of family counseling resources prior to entering into an agency adoption. It is important to have clarity about your emotions and the emotions of your family leading up to such an important decision.
- Is Adoption the Right Choice: You and your family should seek the advice of an attorney before committing to a specific course of action. You can only benefit from meeting with an experienced OKC attorney prior to committing to the process. If nothing else, you can learn about the wide variety of options and danger areas to avoid in your adoption.
- Know Adoption Rights: you are welcome to schedule a free planning meeting with our team to learn about your rights related to an agency adoption. There are state and federal laws concerning adoption rights, which we would be glad to explain to you in detail.
- Research Adoption: again, there are few greater acts of selflessness than taking it upon your family to care for a child. However, you still need to research the financial issues and other implications associated with adopting a child. Oklahoma has programs and resources for adoptive parents and birth parents, which you should take full advantage. Additionally, our lawyers would be glad to guide you to the resources available to help you through the process. The IRS also provides an “adoption tax credit”, which every adoptive family should take advantage of in their adoption.
- Meet with a Family Lawyer: agency adoptions are complicated, especially the process of working with an adoption agency to connect to a birth mother and the legal process. These issues make it very important to work with an experienced lawyer. It is vital to ensure the legal documents finalizing your adoption are done correctly so that they will protect your parental rights should one of the birth parents decide to contest the adoption years from now. All that to say, it is not wise to do any adoption without an experienced attorney.
- Select an Adoption Agency: The choices for adoption agencies can be overwhelming. It is important to take your time in evaluating the candidates you like to act as your adoption agency. You should consider what previous clients have said as well as interview multiple candidates. Your Oklahoma attorney will also be able to give you references and recommendations on trusted agencies in Oklahoma. As a warning, your agency expense will likely be greater than your legal fees. When you retain the right attorney prior to an adoption agency, you increase your likelihood to hire the right adoption agency to help you through this process and find the right birth mother or birth parents to adopt your child.
II. Adoption Court Process in Oklahoma
- Filing Adoption in Court: your attorney will draft, review with you, and file all necessary adoption pleadings in court. In agency adoptions by consent, the birth parents should sign affidavits, prepared by your attorney, which is their statement of forfeiting all parental rights to the child. When this takes place, your Oklahoma attorney can present the affidavits and the other necessary adoption pleadings to the court in order to finalize your adoption as soon as possible.
- Adoption Agency Involvement: your attorney should work with your agency to ensure all necessary paperwork for the state, the adoption agency, and the court is completed as soon as possible to expidite the process of finalizing your adoption. need state agency approval, if the state is involved in your kinship adoption. When you and your attorney have a good working relationship with the social worker on your case, it greatly improves the process. Your lawyer should inform you that there is no privacy related to your social worker or case worker during the adoption process. It is important to understand that you are required to open your home to the social worker and the adoption agency during the process. However, when you work with an experienced OKC adoption attorney, they should advise you of each of the potential issues, concerns, and roadblocks to adoption, so that you will be mentally and emotionally prepared.
- Open versus Closed Adoption: failure to plan is planning to fail. The amount and type of communication, if any, between your family and the birth parents or birth family after your adoption is finalized is an issue many adoptive parents are blindsided by in adoptions. Birth parents have rights, as do you that must be considered in evaluating what communication will take place following the adoption. An open adoption comes in unlimited forms and can include in-person meetings or simply communication between you as the adoptive parents to the birth parents. Alternatively, a closed adoption provides no communication between your family and the birth family once the adoption is finalized. No two adoptions are alike; however, it is important to think about what you and your family want long before considering this very important and emotional topic in adoption. Our attorneys can help you evaluate the pros and cons of any option and help you form your proposal to the birth parents.
- Work with your Attorney: agency adoptions come with the additional layer of an organization or adoption agency, which will have requirements for you to complete in addition to the legal process to complete an adoption. Your Oklahoma attorney is your trusted ally in the adoption process and will help you with compliance and understanding with all of the elements involved in an agency adoption.
III. Finalize Your Adoption
- Attend Adoption Hearings: your attorney will notify you of all necessary court appearances and may be able to appear for you at a number of hearings prior to the final adoption hearing. In agency adoptions the birth parents are typically not part of the legal proceeding as they consent to the adoption and their presence can be waived by their signature on sworn affidavits and the legal documents terminating their parental rights. However, your attorney will need to appear at the final hearing and potentially other court dates to abide by the adoption judge’s orders and in order to be in compliance with Oklahoma adoption laws.
- Attend Final Adoption Hearing: your final adoption hearing is one of the most memorable events in your family’s history. The court will acknowledge the birth parents’ consent to the adoption, give you an opportunity to speak, and enter an order making you the legal parent for your child!
- Update Birth Certificate: once you have a file stamped copy of the final adoption court order, you or your attorney can file for a new birth certificate for your child, which will allow you to obtain a new social security card and all other documents for your child with your last name.
- Love Your Child: once your adoption is finalized, you have the rest of your life to be a loving parent to your child. You have made the decision to give one of the greatest gifts a person can provide, be proud and own the responsibility of guiding your child to adulthood and hopefully becoming a person you are proud to call your son or daughter.
CONTACT CANNON & ASSOCIATES TODAY!
Your Fierce Advocates® at Cannon & Associates are dedicated to answering your questions and preparing you for the road to adoption. We take pride in the responsibility of serving families seeking to adopt and would be glad to meet with you for a free adoption planning session.
CALL NOW 405-591-3935 for your free confidential adoption planning sessions to help you understand your circumstances and answer your questions about adoption.
