Brick NJ Lawyers Work For Safe Adoptions

You’ve made the decision!: You’re ready to adopt a child and share your home, your love, your life. Now the only big remaining uncertainty is: “Can an adoption be undone?”…

Get an attorney who knows Monmouth and Ocean County adoption laws

First, hire a reputable family law adoption attorney who is thoroughly familiar with New Jersey laws. In order to ensure that your adoption is not vulnerable to being reversed, it’s tremendously important for you, and for your new child, to be certain that your adoption is completed properly. This means having not only an experienced attorney who knows all the ins and outs of New Jersey adoption laws, but one who is committed to looking out for your family’s future.

The Bronzino Law Firm is serving New Jersey families with experienced attorneys.  The Firm has been instrumental in creating secure and happy families in many communities across Ocean and Monmouth Counties.

In this article we will answer this “secure adoption“question by looking at how courts generally view the permanency of adoptions. We will also touch upon the infrequent, but most common circumstances that might lead to a reversal.

Peter J. Bronzino has a reputation for thoroughness and dedication to clients.  You can be sure that he will ensure that your adoption is a strong one because it is put together properly.

Can your Toms River NJ adoption be contested and reversed?

The short answer is almost never. Assuming that you and the biological parents followed an unwavering legal adoption procedure, it can never be overturned.

No exceptions?, you ask.
That’s right! There are no exceptions in a legal adoption.

However, and this is why an experienced attorney is so important. If the adoption was processed incorrectly, incompletely, or illegally, then your happy adoption story could be vulnerable.  Under New Jersey family law an adoption can be overturned only under the specific circumstances, which essentially would mean that it wasn’t arranged legally. Pay attention to three areas in particular:

• That the overall adoption process to ensure it follows legal procedures at every step;
• To ensure that the birth mother (or other legal guardian) does not feel she is being coerced/forced to sign away her rights and give up her child;
• That parental consent (preferably from both biological parents) is obtained and appropriate counseling is offered to the biological parents. Parental consent is the legal termination of their parental rights; it must be obtained properly.

What happens if the birth father isn’t identified and doesn’t give consent?

The biological father sometimes pops up saying he didn’t know about the child, he never relinquished his parental rights and the child was put up for adoption without his consent. Typically, the court’s perspective is “no excuses”; it was his duty to know.

As a result, an alleged father who claims that he did not know of his child until after the birth or adoption, still usually does not have a legal claim to the child. In New Jersey courts, parenthood is considered to begin at the earliest moments of pregnancy or at the latest, at birth; but not when the father learns about the child. What’s more, if an alleged father denies his paternity at any time, including prior to the baby’s birth, his paternal parental rights are considered to be automatically surrendered.

Monmouth County Grandparent rights or Native American adoptions

Other special situations can include legal rights that can possibly apply to the grandparents, if they are known.
A second and less common circumstance is around the adoption of a Native American child. Such an adoption must be processed according to tribal laws and terms for adoption in the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Details of the processes and the laws guiding adoption procedures are strict and can change. To secure your future family, involve an adoption lawyer who is an expert in New Jersey’s family laws.

The Court is focused on “child’s best interests” for every New Jersey adoption

The nature of courts is to move in a forward motion with a constant focus on the best interests of the child. Therefore, courts consider adoption orders to be just as final as giving birth. No backtracking, no reversing of history or going back in time as far as the actual legal assignment of parenthood. Once the court declares the adoption to be final, the child is permanently yours to care for, love and raise.

This permanency applies to you as adoptive parents, too. A petition by adoptive parents to overturn their adoption is not likely to fly with a judge either. Just because life circumstances change or a family relationship has permanently broken down (i.e. divorce); you can’t undo an adoption –in the same way that you can’t reverse a birth.

However, there are some circumstances when adoptive parents have undone an adoption. Again, a court’s focus will always be on the child’s best interests. A compelling reason which illustrates that it’s in the adopted child’s best interests to reverse a finalized adoption is required. For example, a court might decide it’s in a child’s best interests to dissolve an adoption if one of the parents is diagnosed with a terminal illness or the child has significant medical needs, and the adoptive parents can’t afford the necessary treatments.

Illegal Activities may put Adoption at risk

A high demand for healthy newborns combined with a large number of qualified and anxious, potential adoptive parents; creates a setting for illegal activity. There are situations that might pave the wave to trouble.
It is imperative that you arrange your adoption with an expert who knows the law and practices in New Jersey.

Be informed, reduce risks…

• First, do your research, work with a reputable NJ adoption agency (licensed and bonded), get an expert family law attorney and do reference checks.
• Second, it is illegal in every state to pay exorbitant amounts of money upfront in order to proceed with an adoption.

In fact, a demand for upfront payments is a red flag alerting you to a possible scam or other type of illegal activity. At worse, you could end up not only losing the baby, but also find yourselves facing criminal charges if the truth comes to light. Needless to say (but we will say it), “baby buying” is illegal within the United States. It follows, then, that the adoption would be determined to be illegal.

Contact the family law offices in Brick and Sea Girt

Bronzino Law Firm, LLC and arrange for an initial consultation at no charge. Find out the facts on how the adoption process will proceed with your chosen child.

After you sign adoption papers, you’re the parents! Adopted children sometimes fear that someday someone will appear in their lives and try to take them away from their parents who they love. It’s your job to reassure your child that the adoption procedure is permanent, so do it right.

No matter what your circumstances are, whether you use a public or private adoption agency, or whether you adopt internationally or within the country, your first act as parents is to become aware of the laws and processes guiding adoptions. All paperwork must be examined and authorized by a lawyer: lives depend upon it.

Contact  Bronzino Law Firm, LLC or call today. 732-812-3102