Adoption

Adoption is the shift of parental and custodial responsibilities from a biological parent to a non-biological parent or parents. Adoption transfers completely the responsibilities from one party to the other. There is no real difference in the parenthood of adopters and biological parents.

There are two big categories that adoptions fall into: open and closed. Open adoption happens when the biological parents and the adopting parents share personal information, and may even meet to discuss the adoption. They often come to a relatively informal agreement about visitation or interaction from the biological parent. Closed adoption does not have any information, sharing between the sets of parents. At most, the biological parents might know the race, religion, and medical history of the adopting parents, but there would be no contact information and to identify them personally. This had been the preferred method for much of history and is now seeing a bit of resurgence in the U.S. after a period of open adoption.

There are both public and private organizations that facilitate adoptions. Public options include foster parent adoption, where the child is placed in public care. There are a variety of private institutions that create matches between children and adopting families. These organizations account for a large percentage, about 45%, of all adoptions in the U.S. There are also both public and private entities that facilitate international adoption.

Get Legal Help from a West Palm Beach Adoption Lawyer

For all of your family law needs, contact the West Palm Beach adoption lawyers at 561-353-2800.