How to Decide Between Adoption and Legal Guardianship Roughly 8% of children in the U.S. live with family members who are not their biological parents. Though these familial arrangements can be a wonderful way of raising a child, they do come with some legal difficulties. If you are trying to decide between adoption or guardianship, […]

What You Need to Know About the New USCIS Rules There are roughly 9 million U.S. citizens currently living abroad. Typically, they are able to transfer their citizenship to any children they have, but things get a little more complicated when reproductive assistance is involved. Fortunately, a recent update from USCIS makes it much easier […]

How to Honor Your Adopted Child’s Ethnic Culture Eighty-four percent of international adoptions and 28% of domestic adoptions involve children joining families of another race or ethnic group. In any cross-cultural adoption, it’s important to find ways to honor a child’s heritage. These tips can help your child stay connected to his or her past […]

How Do I Create a Visitation Plan With My Child’s Birth Parent? In 2019, more than 64,000 children were adopted in the United States. According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, 52% of those children were adopted by their foster parents, and 36% were adopted by a relative. When planning an open adoption, no matter […]

Does an International Surrogacy Mean Dual Citizenship for Your Child? The U.S. State Department has long upheld a policy that denied citizenship to those who were born via surrogacy or IVF (in vitro fertilization), preventing children who were born in this way from obtaining dual citizenship. But now, thanks to the recent update in the […]

Always make sure to work with a reputable licensed adoption agency and a reputable attorney who specializes in adoptions, such as those who are Fellows of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. Unethical adoption service providers can take advantage of an emotionally charged process to deceive and defraud prospective adoptive parents or birth […]

How to Write a Good Surrogacy Contract In the past 20 years, the number of parents who use surrogates to expand their family has drastically increased. Though surrogacy is certainly becoming more popular, it’s still not a hassle-free process. If you want to avoid any problems later on, it is a good idea to include […]

Everything You Should Understand About Grandparent Adoption While it’s common for grandparents to act as temporary caregivers for their grandchildren during a time when one or both parents may be unable to provide the necessary level of care, it may be better to formalize an adoption in certain situations. In 2015 alone, around 1,063 adoptions […]

Adoption vs. Surrogacy: Weighing the Options About 2,000 children are typically in New Jersey’s foster care system waiting to be adopted, and the number of surrogacy cases is also skyrocketing. In fact, demand for surrogates is currently outstripping the supply in some areas. However, deciding which alternative family expansion route is right for you can […]

Can a Biological Parent Block a Stepparent Adoption? About 5% of all children with a stepparent end up getting adopted by their stepparent. This sort of adoption can be challenging to navigate since it brings up sensitive topics like former relationships and child custody. Whether or not the biological parent consents to the adoption plays […]