Adoption Attorney Surfside Beach SC
The choice to pursue adoption is significant. However, it is often an expensive, emotional, and time-consuming endeavor that can be more complicated when you do not consult with an adoption attorney in Surfside Beach, SC.
Adoptions in South Carolina must abide by strict policies and procedures that dictate the process. Failing to adequately complete any of the required steps can require you to spend time and money starting over, or even lead to a failed adoption. The team at Indigo Family Law has experience in all family law services, and we can help you avoid some of the common pitfalls of adoption.
Why Work with Indigo Family Law?
The team at Indigo Family Law offers our clients over 40 years of combined experience. Family is complicated. We know better than most that life can throw unexpected challenges your way, and we are ready to work through them at your side.
Honesty
At Indigo Family Law, our adoption lawyers know that you can only plan and cope when you know what’s happening. We want our clients to be able to make well-informed decisions about how to handle their adoption case, and you cannot do that if you don’t have all of the information. You can trust that we will be upfront with you about your situation, whether we have good or bad news.
Ongoing Support
Even once your case is closed, we are still available to you. Our team values enduring relationships with our clients. We will be available to you even after your adoption or family law case is finalized.
There Are Several Paths to Adoption in Surfside Beach
When you decide that you are ready to open your home to a child in need of love, support, and stability, you may feel overwhelmed by the options available to you. The time expected and duration of the process can vary based on the path you choose.
Domestic vs. International Adoption
Whether you choose to adopt domestically vs. internationally often depends on the age you are prepared to adopt.
In most cases, families who are seeking to provide a home for an infant or newborn will need to do so domestically. If you are not particular about the age of the child you adopt, you may choose to do so either internationally or domestically.
There is no hard rule that you can only adopt older children internationally. However, a child must meet certain criteria before they become eligible for international adoption, and this can take a year or more, meaning that most eligible children will be more than a year old.
State vs. Private Adoption
For those adopting from the foster care system, you may be adopting a child who has already lived in your home.
State adoptions are typically considered lower cost or “free” since the state will handle most of the process. Public adoptions are those done through the Horry County Department of Social Services and the foster care system. While they will handle many of the legal pieces of the adoption, it can still be important to have an adoption attorney to protect your family’s interests.
Private adoptions are typically done between individual parties or facilitated by an adoption agency. These are almost always done with a newborn child or infant since Social Services will typically get involved for older children. However, this is not to say that you could not conduct an independent adoption for an older child.
Open vs. Closed Adoption
In private adoptions, or those done outside of foster care, you will often need to work with the birthing parent to determine whether each party wants an open or closed adoption.
An open adoption allows for ongoing contact or updates between the parties, depending on the desired level of involvement. For some, an open adoption means that the adoptive family sends photos and pictures at their discretion. However, some families may agree to occasional visits.
A closed adoption means that the birthing parent will not have access or contact with the adoptive child as a minor. Some agreements may provide a certain amount of information regarding the adoptive parents when the child turns 18. Others may allow the child to seek out the birthing parent when they reach adulthood.
Closed Adoptions Through South Carolina Courts
When you adopt through foster care, you may not have a choice as to an open or closed adoption, depending on the circumstances of how parental rights were terminated or surrendered. The courts may implement no-contact orders in some cases, which would prevent all contact between the child and their family of origin.
Working with a Surfside Beach Adoption Facilitator
You have several options when it comes to facilitating the adoption. You may choose to work with a number of entities for adoption.
Adoption Agency
Adoption agencies typically provide full-service support for an adoption. They can help pair prospective parents with pregnant parents, create the adoption agreement, and often offer post-adoption support. This support can include services for the birth parent, adoptive parents, or the adoptee.
Additionally, they often help with obtaining a new birth certificate and finalizing other necessary paperwork.
Adoption Consultant
You may choose to work with an adoption consultant who may help connect prospective parents with a pregnant mother. However, you would still require an adoption attorney to help you with the paperwork to finalize the adoption.
Independent Adoption
In some circumstances, you may have already found a family that is planning to put their infant up for adoption. In this case, you may choose to register with an agency or pursue the adoption independently with a Surfside Beach adoption lawyer. This is often less costly than adopting through an agency, but it may be more of a challenge if you do not have adequate legal advice on the necessary steps.
South Carolina Requirements for Adoption Eligibility
The legal requirements for adoption are extensive. In a newborn adoption, the birthing parent is unable to sign paperwork until the next day and must be free of substances that may influence the decision. According to Statute 63-9-310, the adoptive parents or facilitating entities must obtain permission for adoption as follows:
- The Child: If they are at least 14 years old and able to consent
- The Mother: If the child was born outside of marriage
- Both Parents: If the child was born within a marriage
In a public adoption, social services must search for both legal parents prior to adoption. The parents must surrender their rights or have them terminated by a judge before adoption may happen, which can be a lengthy and emotional process.
Surfside Beach Families May Encounter Challenges in Adoption
The adoption process is not one that many would call simple, cheap, or easy. Adoption often presents many challenges, some of which may be unavoidable, and some are easily managed with the help of adoption attorneys.
Financial Costs
Adoption typically comes with a high price tag, including agency and legal costs. At Indigo Family Law, we know that the cost of adopting a child can be a significant burden, particularly when you are preparing for the added cost of raising a child as well.
Legal Barriers
It can be difficult to obtain the necessary permission or meet the legal criteria for an adoption. This may mean waiting for social services to do their due diligence in identifying both parents or undergoing the process to terminate parental rights with the court. It can also mean finding a match, arriving at the hospital to witness the birth, and being unable to go through with adoption because the birth parent decided to raise their child.
Adoption Is Often an Emotional Experience
Legal setbacks often come with a high emotional cost. Many prospective parents can experience feelings of grief and loss when an adoption falls through. Additionally, the court process in a social services case can be stressful and anxiety-provoking for everyone involved. However, the challenges do not stop when the adoption is finalized.
Some adoptees report struggles with their identity and sense of belonging with their family, depending on the circumstances of adoption and how they found out about it. Some of the possible long-term effects of adoption include:
- Difficulty forming emotional attachments
- Self-esteem and distress around belonging
- Trouble with identity
Regardless of the circumstances of adoption, we must understand that adoptees suffer the loss of their family of origin. While this does not mean that adoptive parents are inadequate or that the birth family was a safe or appropriate option, we must consider this when it comes to helping adoptees work through some of these challenges.
What You Can Expect From the Adoption Process
Finalizing an adoption is a long journey that can look very different for different families. However, there are some things that most families can expect when beginning the path to providing a child in need with a loving and supportive home.
Initial Consultations
There are so many decisions you must make regarding your adoption path, and they all deserve proper consideration. Many families may benefit from speaking with the various adoption facilitators to determine their specific needs as it relates to matching, adoption agreements, and post-adoption support.
Home Study and Interviews
Adopting in Surfside Beach will require some form of home study. For a public adoption, the social services caseworker will likely complete this portion. If you are adopting through an agency, they will likely conduct their own version of a home study that includes interviews, home visits, and background checks to ensure the child’s safety. These interviews assess the family’s ability to care for a child, evaluate parenting styles, and assess the home for basic safety.
Matching
In most cases, the adoption consultant or agency will help you match with a parent choosing to surrender their child for adoption. The consultant or agency will work with you to build a profile to share with birthing parents who may have similar wants and values for the child.
Introduction
Once you have matched, the agency or consultant may arrange an introduction with the pregnant parent or child. If you are adopting an older child from foster care, you may begin with visits and a slow transition until the family and child are ready. For an infant adoption, you may begin to get updates regarding the pregnancy and birth.
Adoption Agreement
The adoption agreement can be created prior to the birth of the child or afterwards. However, it cannot be finalized or enforceable until after the birth, since the birth parents are unable to surrender their rights until a day after birth.
This agreement typically outlines the responsibilities and expectations of the adoption, including if and how contact is expected.
Other Types of Adoption
When most of us think about adoption, we imagine the “typical” situation of adopting a newborn, internationally, or from foster care. However, the legal recognition of the parent-child relationship can be important in a variety of dynamics, including:
- Step-Parent Adoption: Where a step-parent adopts a child to whom they are already acting as a parent, and the other parent is willing to surrender rights, or their parental rights have been terminated
- Adult Adoption: Adult adoptions can take place with the consent of both parties. While this does not affect custody in the same way as a minor, it can affect inheritance and estate planning
The cost of these types of adoption will vary, but they are often cheaper than international or infant adoptions. Adult adoptions are often a relatively simple matter of filing the paperwork, while step-parent adoptions may still require action to terminate the rights of the other parent, or their agreement to surrender.
Contact Our Surfside Beach Adoption Lawyers Today
Adoption can be a complicated and emotionally charged situation. Any error on paperwork or a missed deadline can have devastating consequences, which is why it is imperative to consult an adoption attorney to guide you and protect your interests.
At Indigo Family Law, our adoption attorneys in Surfside Beach will carefully discuss your situation and goals for your family. Contact our law office today so we can handle the process, and you can focus on the joys of welcoming a child into your family.