My law office offers affordable services assisting families in completing step-parent or relative or family adoptions. Step parent adoptions are the most common type of adoption in Oregon. They involve taking a blended family and asking a court to name the Mom and Dad as the child's real parents in the eyes of the law. Once a step-parent adoption is final, the step-parent, now deemed the legal parent, takes over the legal rights of the biological parent whose rights were relinquished or terminated.
Many people wish to do a step-parent adoption because they are concerned about what might happen to the child were the biological parent to become incompetent or die. Under those circumstances, without a step-parent adoption, the children could be forced to live with a formerly absent biological parent that they do not necessarily know or consider a parental figure.
Let me help you make your family legally whole. I am an experienced adoption attorney who can help immediately.
Step-parent adoptions generally involve either a birth parent consenting to their rights being terminated by signing a Waiver and Consent to Adoption or a court doing so over their absence or objection. Once a birthparent's rights have been terminated, they are no longer responsible for paying child support and have no legal rights to visit the child.
Step-parent adoptions typically take between two and six months to finalize depending on the county in which they are filed. This is greatly dependent on a criminal history check being processed quickly by the Oregon State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation on the adoptive parent and the Department of Human Services issuing a letter waiving a home study in the matter.
At this time, our office generally does uncontested step-parent adoptions for a flat fee of $1,200.00 which includes filing fees. Fees for contested adoptions and family adoptions vary depending on the circumstances of the case. If you would like to become your child’s legal parent, because you’ve always been there and have always been “dad” or “mom”, call my law firm today to schedule a consultation.
Portland Family Adoption Attorney
I have helped clients adopt their step-children and grandchildren for many years. I know to work in both family court and probate court to help clients obtain custody or guardianship of the children they love.
