What to Know When Choosing Between Adoption and Surrogacy Each year in the United States, about 135,000 children are adopted. Excluding step-parent adoptions, about 59% of adoptions are from the foster care system. Surrogacy is another way to add to your family, and each year, about 18,000 babies are born through this method. Genetics Some […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Legal Guardianship and Adoption Are Different Did you know that about 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year? Legal guardianship and adoption are very different, one being temporary and the other being permanent. Many people confuse these two arrangements since they do have some similarities. As a New Jersey adoption attorney, we […]

Adoption Law: Should You Enter Into Contracts With Birth Parents? In the not too distant past, most adoptions were closed, and many surrendered children never learned their birth parents’ identities. But times have changed, and today, nearly 70% of adoptions are “open.” Keeping communication lines open can be fulfilling for all involved, but things tend […]

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that same sex couples have a constitutionally protected right to marry has a direct and beneficial effect on children. Specifically, the decision recognizes the dignity of all families and provides for the protection of children who are adopted or born into gay and […]

Pennsylvania Woman Loses Surrogacy Contract Appeal A Pennsylvania woman who entered into a gestational surrogacy agreement with her then-husband and a gestational surrogate has been declared to be the legal mother of the child. The Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the ruling of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in mid-November, ruling against actress and […]

More State Legislatures Looking at Surrogacy Laws New York and Washington, DC are two of just a few states that outlaw commercial surrogacy and are considering new legislation that would allow women and couples to pay a third party to carry a child for them. In Washington, DC, Councilmember Charles Allen introduced the Collaborative Reproduction […]

Supreme Court Decision Regarding Same Sex Marriage The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that same sex couples have a constitutionally protected right to marry has a direct and beneficial effect on children. Specifically, the decision recognizes the dignity of all families and provides for the protection of children who […]