Archives for September 2014

Is Adoption Right for You? Factors to Consider Before You Adopt

You may be considering adopting a child for any of a number of reasons. Perhaps you are unable to have children of your own. Maybe you already have a family and want to provide a home for a child in need. Adoption can be an extremely rewarding experience or it can be fraught with challenges. Here are some things to consider before you file for adoption.

Your Reasons for Adopting

There are other reasons than simply wanting a child. If you can’t have children biologically, adoption can give you the family you want. But some things you want to consider. First, have you taken the time to grieve your inability to have biological children? Do you view adoption as “the next best alternative”? If so, you may (consciously or subconsciously) view your child as less than what you really wanted. And how strong is your relationship with your spouse or partner? Are you looking at adoption as a way to improve that relationship? Sadly, that never really works.

The Time and Financial Commitments of Parenthood (and Adopting)

It will probably cost you at least $25,000 to complete an adoption. Estimates indicate that it can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 annually to raise a child. In addition, the time commitment is huge and unrelenting. Kids don’t live life on a schedule. You may be up all night with a sick kid and still have to go to work in the morning.

The Different Types of Adoptions

You can adopt a child domestically (within the United States) or internationally. With an international adoption, there is less likelihood of an ongoing relationship with the birth parent, and less likelihood that your adopted child will try to seek out their birthparent. The costs of an international adoption are typically a little higher than a domestic adoption.

Adoption may be open (you and/or your child maintain an ongoing relationship with the birthparent) or closed. With an open adoption, there can be an ongoing sense that the child has two families. For some adoptive parents, this can make it feel like the child is little more than a visitor. But many adoptive parents believe it is best in the long term that the child knows his or her heritage.

An adoption may be private or through an agency. With a private adoption, there can be less red tape, but it can also be more difficult to find a child that needs to be adopted.

Adoption Attorneys in New Jersey

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. Attorney Bruce D. Zeidman has protected the interests of clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1984. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005. We also provide a free initial consultation in personal injury and workers’ compensation matters.

Can You Adopt as a Single Parent in New Jersey?

Maybe you haven’t found that someone special or you just prefer to remain single, but you want to experience the joy of being a parent. So you’ve considered filing for adoption, but are uncertain whether your unmarried status will prevent you from adopting. In New Jersey, that’s generally not a barrier to adoption.

New Jersey has a well-deserved reputation nationally as an “adoption-friendly” state. While some other states look at marital status or sexual orientation as one of the factors in determining your fitness to adopt, New Jersey has no such restrictions.

Just because New Jersey does not prohibit single parent adoptions, however, does not mean that you won’t run into obstacles as a single person trying to adopt. Often, adoption agencies will give preferential treatment to married couples seeking to adopt, or a birth parent may be reluctant or unwilling to consider a single parent in a private adoption. The laws in New Jersey, while allowing single parent adoptions, do not provide the authority to compel an agency or a birth parent to give a child in adoption to a single parent. If you are a single person seeking to adopt a child, your best approach is to work directly with an agency that specializes in or supports single parent adoptions.

Adoption Attorneys in New Jersey

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. Attorney Bruce D. Zeidman has protected the interests of clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1984. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005. We also provide a free initial consultation in personal injury and workers’ compensation matters.

There have been several articles in the newspapers and on television lately about something which has been given the name of “Re-Homing.”

Re-Homing is the placement of a child previously adopted by a family, with another family. The news articles dealt primarily with adoptive placements of children from foreign countries. Adopting families on some occasions have found that the child has significant issues, whether they are physical disabilities, developmental delays, or neurological and/or emotional problems, such that the family is not equipped to care for the child. Those families often find that any attempt to obtain aid or assistance from the state or federal government is rejected. With no where to turn yet being concerned about the best interest of the child, the families will sometimes post their situation on the internet, and invite other families to consider caring for the child.

In many cases the child ends up with a loving family who is able to deal with the issues presented, and the second family often adopts the child. What has been reported are the very few cases where the second family may not be an appropriate placement. The second family may not have had a home study performed and there is concern that the child may end up being abused.

Rather than dealing with this in a measured way, one state has passed legislation specifically banning this practice. This type of legislation does not solve the problems that these families face or that these children face. Rather, programs need to be developed to assist these families that sometimes are in crisis because of the condition of these children. Turning our backs on these families and children and preventing them from attempting to find other substitute families is far from the best solution.

Adoption Attorneys in New Jersey

At the law office of Cofsky & Zeidman, LLC, our lawyers bring more than 25 years of experience to every matter we handle. Attorney Donald C. Cofsky has personally handled more than 1,500 adoption proceedings since joining the bar in 1974. Attorney Bruce D. Zeidman has protected the interests of clients in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1984. We understand the challenges you face, and can help you identify all your options so that you can make good decisions that are in your best long-term interests.

Contact our office online or call us at (856) 429-5005 in Haddonfield, NJ, at (856) 429-5005 in Woodbury, NJ, or in Philadelphia, PA, at (856) 429-5005. We also provide a free initial consultation in personal injury and workers’ compensation matters.