How to Choose the Right Adoption Professional for You
Adoption is not a process that prospective adoptive parents can complete on their own. They will need the assistance of several adoption professionals in order to meet the adoption requirements set by the state of Iowa and to ensure their adoption is completed safely and efficiently.
Which adoption professionals a prospective adoptive parent will need to use will depend upon their chosen adoption process and personal adoption goals and preferences. When you contact attorney Ken Nelson at the Nelson Law Firm, he can tell you more about your chosen adoption process and what professionals may be required along the way.
Adoption Attorneys
Everyone who completes an adoption process in Iowa will need the assistance of an adoption attorney. Adoption laws can be complicated, and the adoption process includes important legal steps to protect the rights of all members of the adoption triad. Therefore, an adoption attorney is necessary to make sure all proceedings are followed correctly and an adoption is not jeopardized.
Attorney Ken Nelson can provide all of the legal services you need from an adoption attorney in Iowa, including:
- Consultation to explain the adoption process and any applicable adoption laws
- Assistance finding an adoption opportunity or referrals to matching agencies
- Filing necessary paperwork to the appropriate court
- Obtaining birth parent consents and terminating parental rights
- Satisfying interstate adoption requirements
- Arranging and attending a finalization hearing
- Obtaining a new birth certificate for your child
As your adoption lawyer, Ken can provide referrals to any other adoption professionals your adoption process requires, like a home study provider, an adoption counselor or an adoption agency. He will also provide any general oversight, legal advice and support you may need during your family-building journey.
Schedule a consultation with him today to learn more.
Adoption Agencies
In addition to their adoption attorney, many prospective adoptive families choose to work with an adoption agency, which is an adoption professional that can provide almost all of the services needed to complete an adoption. The best adoption agencies in Iowa can address all of the needs that prospective adoptive parents have, connecting them with experienced adoption caseworkers who can guide them through the adoption process.
Hopeful parents can work with adoption agencies to complete a private domestic infant adoption, a foster care adoption or an international adoption. Adoption agencies can operate on a national level (which means they work with prospective birth mothers across the U.S.) or on a local level (in which they are often licensed in one state and work within a certain region).
Some of the services adoption agencies in Iowa provide include:
- Matching services to find an adoption opportunity
- Screening services for prospective birth parents and adoptive parents
- Adoption plan development and management services
- Mediation of pre- and post-placement contact
- Coordination of legal services with adoption attorney
- And more
Adoptive parents who work with private adoption agencies will still need to work with an adoption attorney in Iowa to complete their adoption process. Only an adoption attorney can complete necessary legal steps like parental consent and adoption finalization.
Attorney Ken Nelson works with many clients who complete agency-assisted adoptions in Iowa. If you are considering hiring an adoption agency for your own family-building journey, he can provide referrals to the trusted adoption agencies his clients often work with.
How to Choose an Adoption Professional
Because each adoption and adoptive parent’s situation are unique, which adoption professionals a hopeful parent decides to work with will be entirely up to him or her. Prospective adoptive parents should consider what their personal adoption goals and preferences are before starting the process. These preferences will inform which adoption professional is right for their personal journey.
Adoptive parents should do diligent research about each adoption professional before committing to their program. This should include online research as well as consultations with professionals you are considering.
Some questions to ask prospective adoption professionals are:
- How many prospective adoptive families do you have on your wait list?
- How long does your adoption process usually take?
- What are your program’s adoption costs? What will happen to my adoption funds if a disruption occurs?
- What kind of services do you provide, and how will you tailor those to our specific adoption journey?
- What kind of contact mediation do you provide, both before and after the adoption is complete?
As mentioned, if you are in need of references for trusted adoption professionals near you, you can always contact attorney Ken Nelson. Regardless of what other adoption professionals you choose to work with, you will still need the assistance of an adoption lawyer for your adoption in Iowa.
There are many adoption professionals available to you as a prospective adoptive parent, and which one you choose will greatly influence your adoption process as a whole. Before selecting an adoption attorney, an adoption agency or another professional, make sure you are 100 percent comfortable with their services and programs.