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The complications in same-sex couple adoptions occur through the type of adoption possible and other issues such as bringing the child home from another country or when the youth is in a war-torn land. These roadblocks can create additional chaos when attempting to ensure the family unit is strong and stable in the United States.
The Lack of Rights
Even though the Supreme Court of the United States favored same-sex couples through legalizing marriages throughout the country in 2015, these new changes did not extend to other rights that same-sex couples have been fighting for with the last few decades to include adoption rights and having children in the relationship. Expanding the family through adoption is still a difficult process in the 2010s with additional and potential roadblocks that these couples must face continually no matter what state in which they live. Without an experienced family law lawyer, many same-sex couples cannot even begin to start this process initially.
The Initial Steps for Adoption
Before the same-sex couple even has a chance of starting to extend the family beyond the two spouses, both parties will need a family law lawyer to help understand other state laws and requirements in these matters. These processes will also require the knowledge, understanding, patience and comprehension of both family matters and legal issues that may arise throughout the lifetime of an adoption case. The couple may need to wait years before adopting a child or a baby is even possible, and many couples will need to first foster children temporarily until adoption becomes a legal option.
Parental Rights
It is important for both same-sex spouses to have parental rights both in the relationship with the child and in an external setting such as a hospital. This usually requires obtaining legal rights in the state in some manner. However, some states may complicate this and push the parents to seek the parental rights from the biological parents. Legal adoption in the state may remove many roadblocks, but one parent may acquire the legal rights in the state while the other must apply and stumble until years pass. These matters usually require the advice or assistance of a lawyer.
Legal Rights in the State
To legally adopt a child in the state, many same-sex couples must wait several years and start out as foster parents. Additional roadblocks arise through other parents and citizens in the city or town making complaints to child protective service agencies because the parents are in a same-sex relationship. The legal rights that come with adoption may require both parents to seek the biological parents to give up the rights so that there are fewer issues that will occur later when the same-sex couple wants to ensure the state legally recognizes both parents with all legal and parental rights.
The Return of the Biological Parents
There are several potential roadblocks in standard adoption processes. However, if the biological parents return to the situation, this can both complicate the current adoption and lead to the loss of the child to these individuals. If the birth mother or father wants to reinstate his or her rights, the courts may grant this because most states believe that the birth parents should retain children over anyone else. If these two retain the parental rights granted at the child’s birth, the adopting couple may lose the right to keep the youth. There are also cases where when the transferred rights are given to the same-sex couple, these rights may revert to birth parents.
The Type of Adoption
Other complications may arise based on the type of adoption performed with the child and same-sex couple. For public adoptions, the state will handle the process. Private adoptions generally happen through an agency. Independent processes usually go through a lawyer and a facilitator. Open adoptions happen through a family agreeing to provide the couple with the child. Depending on the type, additional problem may occur at any point. If the birth parents back out, the couple may have no youth in the home. If the agency does not approve the same-sex spouses, the adoption usually ends with no further processes.
Same-Sex Adoption Legal Support
With the help of a lawyer, the same-sex couple can increase the possibility of adopting a child in one of the four standard processes. It is possible to use the lawyer to facilitate a private or independent adoption along with the transfer or rights to the new parents or to include the birth parents in the life of the youth.
Provided by HG.org