Adoption
Guiding you through the process
A service tailored to your specific needs
Adopting a child is one of the happiest and most fulfilling events in life, but often the process can be challenging and lengthy. Our knowledge in related areas of law, in particular care proceedings and international family law, gives us the advantage of having day to day experience of the wider context around adoption applications. We aim to make the process as straightforward as possible with the welfare of the child being our priority.
Your situation is unique
Adoption happens for many reasons including the inability to conceive biologically, or as a step-parent wishing to embrace your new partner’s children. Family circumstances, or the need to ensure a child’s safety, might prompt you to consider adopting a relative’s child or children. Additionally, you may want to offer a stable home to children in need of a family.
Whatever the situation you or the prospective adoptive parent, or child are in, when it comes to rewriting of the legal ties for a child the law is understandably complex, and there are many safeguards built in for the protection of the child involved.
If you are considering adoption
If you are considering adoption, you must be 21 or over, and although your marital status does not affect your application, there are rules if you are adopting privately or are adopting looked-after children. You must also have a fixed and permanent home in the UK, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and have lived in the UK for at least a year before starting the application.
By taking on parental responsibility, an adoptive parent is required to provide a home for the child, offer protection and maintenance for the child as well as discipline and educate the child and agree the child’s medical treatment.
How Jones Myers can help
Our team of experts is highly experienced in guiding you and your family through the complex procedure leading to the ultimate adoption of your child. As family law specialists in this area, we are mindful of the emotional stresses you will be facing. Working with you, we will provide appropriate legal advice and support, from establishing whether adoption is the right way for you to add to your family and collaborating with the other agencies involved right up until the day the Adoption Order is made.
Our experience extends to adoptions in the British Isles and international adoptions, where there are additional hurdles to overcome. Our expertise also includes advising those parents who may have adopted a child overseas only to encounter difficulties on their return to the UK.