A family attorney or law firm can be an outstanding resource throughout the adoption process, mostly because they can help you mitigate a lot of the risk that can often show up when trying to adopt a child. Two ways that a family attorney can assist you include helping you to find a reputable adoption agency and protecting you in the event of a failed private adoption.

Reputable Agency

One of the most common methods for adopting a child is to work with an adoption agency. In most cases, this is because an adoption agency can help you find a child to adopt, which is much easier than trying to find a child to adopt on your own. The issue with this approach is that there is going to be a risk of running into a disreputable scam artist that is going to promise you a child and then disappear with your money.

An attorney can help you avoid this risk if you provide him or her with the contact information for any adoption agency that you are considering. The attorney can then research the company to see if there are any red flags, such as numerous complaints against the individual that started the agency or if the agency has no physical address.

Another way that your attorney can help you avoid a fraudulent service is by recommending an adoption agency. This is possible because a family attorney will likely have dealt with quite a few reputable agencies over the course of his or her career.

Failed Private Adoption

A private adoption is a popular alternative to working through an adoption agency, mostly because the process can be less expensive for you. When you enter into a private adoption arrangement, you will likely end up having to pay for the pregnancy-related expenses of the pregnant woman so that you can adopt her child when he or she is born. However, this arrangement does run the risk of the pregnant woman choosing to keep her child at the last minute.

The easiest way to protect yourself in that situation is to have your attorney write up a contract prior to paying for any of the pregnancy expenses. While it is not likely that the contract will get you custody of the child, you can use it to get a judge to order the mother to repay you for the pregnancy-related expenses since she did not uphold her end of the contract.

Speak to a family law firm today, such as Brown Beattie O'Donovan, in order to discuss how they can help you with the adoption process. This type of law firm can make the adoption process easier by helping you to avoid fraudulent agencies and losing a lot of money due to a failed private adoption.

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