Adoptions come in many shapes and sizes. Each one is unique and deserves competent counsel to guide you through to a successful result. Elizabeth is Board Certified in Adoption by the Florida Bar which means she is qualified to assist you on your adoption journey, no matter what form it takes.
Adoption matching is the process of connecting a birth mother who would like to place her baby for adoption with a parent or family that is seeking to add a child to their family.
Making the courageous decision to place a child for adoption is hard. You deserve to be treated with respect and cared for during and after your pregnancy.
You might have concerns about the rights of the biological father. Elizabeth can discuss your privacy rights as well as what the father's rights may be. The biological father's rights depend on factors such as whether you are married (to him or to someone else), whether there's been abandonment or he has been supporting you during the pregnancy, and whether he has asserted his rights in writing. If you are afraid of him, please be sure you relay that fear and appropriate steps will be taken to protect you and your adoption plan.
Florida law allows expectant parents to receive payment for their living and medical expenses and other expenses including pre-birth counseling and for six weeks postpartum. Elizabeth facilitates those payments through the use of various payment platforms including issuing personalized prepaid credit cards. Pregnancy is a challenging journey even under the best of circumstances and we want to be sure that yours is as stress-free as possible.
Elizabeth works with a team of social workers throughout the State of Florida who provide counseling and support to the expected parents.
The social worker can help you determine a hospital plan, which includes who will be present for delivery and what contact you wish to have with the baby and the adoptive family in the hospital. You might also wish to receive pictures and letters from the adoptive family, perhaps even arrange periodic visits. This understanding can be incorporated into a Post-Adoption Contact Agreement (“PACA”) that will be signed by you and the family before birth or after.
Want to Get Started?
Please reach out to Elizabeth to be set up with a nearby social worker who can assess your financial needs, be sure you are getting proper medical attention, and talk about options for adoptive family. Elizabeth maintains a small but mighty queue of wonderful families who put together beautiful profiles to give you a sense of who they are and what kind of life a child would enjoy with them.
Adoption is a roller coaster ride, and adoptive parents need a lawyer who can guide them through the journey with compassion, responsiveness, skill and transparency. Elizabeth serves as an intermediary, which is a type of adoption entity Florida law authorizes (like a child-placing agency) to place children for adoption. Elizabeth's is a boutique practice where she limits the number of hopeful adoptive parents seeking matches, so that she is able to render competent, personalized services to each case and increase the chances for a match that results in a successful placement.
Whether you are straight or gay, single or coupled, the journey is a stressful one and Elizabeth's experience and zealous advocacy will help protect your legal rights.
Elizabeth has handled hundreds of adoptions, and whether an interstate adoption or adoption within the State of Florida, a stepparent or second parent adoption, relative or adult adoption, you deserve to have an attorney who knows and understands adoption law.
Want to Get Started?
The first steps are to contact Elizabeth to complete an intake sheet. She will advise about the legal process from match to consents to finalization. You will also need to obtain a home study and prepare a profile. Elizabeth can connect you with private firms to assist in completing your home study and profile creation. It's best to begin on both as soon as you're ready. Home studies are valid for one year, so get going on yours as soon as possible to be sure you resolve any issues which might arise, such as needing clearances not only from your current state of residence but for other states where you lived recently.
It's also a great idea, if you're comfortable doing so, to widely share the news that you are seeking to adopt. Matches come from near and far and you never know how you and your baby might connect!
It's absolutely fine to work with several lawyers/agencies. You need not sign an exclusive agreement, as with a realtor. In fact, many find that casting a wide net results in a successful match sooner rather than later. Depending on many factors including your openness and luck, Elizabeth typically matches in 9 months or so - just like a pregnancy - though sometimes matches happen much more quickly, as each case is unique.
Relative adoption is the process to create a legal connection through adoption to someone connected by blood or marriage. Florida law outlines strict limitations on who is considered a relative for the purposes of adoption. The hurdles are fewer but different. A home visit will not be necessary if you meet the standards of what is considered a relative in Florida so the process is smoother and quicker than private non-relative adoptions. There are still abundant legal requirements to satisfy and Elizabeth can ensure you have the peace of mind of knowing the process is handled properly.
Stepparent adoption is a type of relative adoption and, while it may seem quite straightforward, there are aspects to the process which can be complicated. It's best to work with an adoption specialist for these types of cases. No home study is required but, especially when there is another parent whose consent is required, you want to be sure you're covering all bases and providing the court with the proper documentation to not only get a stepparent adoption order granted but to amend the child's birth certificate and ensure there are no successful challenges to the process.
Second parent adoption If you're raising a child you don't have parental rights to, Elizabeth can help change that. You need not be married to the child's legal parent to adopt. What matters is your relationship to the child and having the consent of the child's other legal parent to formalize that bond. A home study is required and Elizabeth can connect you to qualified independent social workers to provide that service. A pioneer in creating the second parent adoption process in Florida, Elizabeth can make your second parent adoption quick, easy and affordable.
Adult adoption is sought for a variety of reasons, from wanting to tie a legal bow around an emotional bond which already existed, to ensuring that certain benefits flow to the adoptee. An person is considered an adult for the purposes of adoption upon reaching the age of 18. There are specific requirements regarding who must participate in the adoption and whose participation is not needed and what must be submitted to the court. Elizabeth can help make sure the process is drama-free and accomplishes your intended results.
Because that lawyer is an expert in the subject area. Florida's adoption statutes are very specific, with substantial requirements so it's important that the lawyer be a specialist in the area of adoptions.
Because it means that lawyer has been vetted not only by her colleagues who practice in this area, but also recommended by judges before whom she has appeared. It means that she has had hundreds of cases over many years in order to even be eligible, and it means she was voted into an Academy of attorneys with the highest degree of ethics and skills in adoption practice.
Whether you are seeking an adoption as a hopeful adoptive parent, or an expectant mother seeking a match, there's no substitute for decades of specific experience and knowledge in family formation law.
