If you are considering adopting a child, you are most likely extremely excited to finish the process and give that child the home he or she has always wanted. However, adoption can be a complicated process, so it is very important you go in educated, informed, and with a professional legal team on your side. To start, there are several different types of adoption. Read on to learn more about the different types and which one will work best for you. They are as follows:
- Domestic Adoption: This type of adoption is for parents living in the United States who adopt a child who is also born, and lives in, the United States. Open domestic adoptions are becoming increasingly popular. Essentially, open domestic adoption is when a child and his or her adoptive parents are in touch with the child’s biological parents. This is usually a great benefit to the child.
- Private Adoption: This is when individuals seek to adopt a child they either already know, or seek to adopt a child through his or her biological parent. Generally, this type of adoption bypasses the foster care system.
- International Adoption: For those who wish to adopt a child who does not live in the United States. Though this process does require some extra work and several potential trips to and from the child’s home country, it is also extremely rewarding.
- Adult Adoption: Adult adoption is usually for two or more adults who seek to transfer inheritance rights or filiation.
- Stepparent Adoption: For those seeking to adopt their stepchild. Generally, for this to happen, the parent will either need full consent and approval from the child’s biological parent, or the courts will have to prove that there was an incident of child abuse or neglect, thereby terminating the biological parent’s parental rights.
- LGBT Adoption: Though not every state allows this, members of the LGBT community are allowed to adopt a child in the state of New Jersey.
- Second-Parent Adoption: Just as not all states allow LGBT adoption, not all states allow second-parent adoption as well. However, New Jersey does. Second-parent adoption is when a same-sex parent adopts a biological or adoptive child without terminating the first parent’s legal status as a parent.
Contact our experienced Bergen County firm
At Townsend, Tomaio & Newmark, our attorneys have extensive experience helping clients to understand and protect their legal rights before, during, and after the divorce process in towns across New Jersey and Bergen County, including Hackensack, Ridgewood, Paramus, Teaneck, and Fort Lee.
To speak with our team of divorce lawyers today in a free and confidential consultation regarding your concerns about moving out of your marital home during your divorce, please contact us online, or through our Hackensack, NJ office at (201) 397-1750.
