Are you considering adoption?
Families are hard to define. At Poarch Law, we understand that it’s love, not DNA that binds families, and we work hard to turn the emotional experience of family into a legal reality.
It is critical that you understand the various steps of the adoption process before you start and what to consider in order to meet your family’s goals.
- Agency adoptions
- Contested adoption
- Foster care to adoption
- Adult adoption
- Same-sex adoption
- Stepparent adoption
- Private parental placements for adoption
- Certain aspects of international adoption
Adult Adoptions
Adult adoption provides the option for an adult to have a stepparent or close relative or other suitable adult to become their legal parent.
Parental Placements
Parental placement refers to any adoption case in which the parent chooses with whom to place the child where that placement does not involve a stepparent or close relative adoption.While most parental placements involve infants, parental placements may occur with children of all ages.
Same-Sex Adoptions
Same-sex adoptions are permitted in Virginia. In practice, there is no statutory provision for a same sex adoption. Rather, the adoption follows the rules for each of the statutory adoption types.
Close Relative Adoptions
Certain close family members of a child may adopt a child through an expedited procedure depending on the length of time that the child has been living with the close relative.
Stepparent
Adoptions
Virginia law allows a stepparent to adopt a stepchild by filing in circuit court to adopt their spouse’s child by birth or adoption.
Contested Adoptions
Information coming soon.
International
Adoptions
Adopting children is an exciting and confusing process. If you’re pursuing international adoption, there are three different sets of law you have to understand and work with, and they are U.S. federal law, state law, and the laws of the child’s country of birth. Overseas adoptions are complex, so it’s wise to have the support of an immigration attorney.
Requests
of Evidence
After you submit a petition or application to USCIS, they may respond in a number of ways. Sometimes, they use requests for evidence (RFE) and notices of intent to deny (NOID) to alert you to problems with your application or petition. Both of these hurdles can be successfully overcome, especially with the help of an experienced immigration attorney.
Notices of
Intent to Deny
After you submit a petition or application to USCIS, they may respond in a number of ways. Sometimes, they use requests for evidence (RFE) and notices of intent to deny (NOID) to alert you to problems with your application or petition. Both of these hurdles can be successfully overcome, especially with the help of an experienced immigration attorney.
Hague
Abduction
If you are in a marriage with children whom you fear are at risk of abduction by another parent with custodial rights, we can help. The Hague Convention is a multilateral treaty that provides a quick method to return a child to their rightful home when a parent has internationally abducted them.
201 S. College Ave, Salem VA 24153
(540) 387-1005
Disclaimer
The results of client matters depend on a variety of factors unique to each matter. Past successes do not predict or guarantee future successes.
