Adoption Legal Services in New York
Private Adoption
Building NY Families offers clients guidance through each step of their deeply personal process. Private adoption provides hopeful parents more involvement, flexibility, and affordability than agency adoption. We provide full-service assistance to our clients on their unique private adoption journey.
Legal Representation Includes:Court Certification: Representation in becoming certified adoptive parents in New York.
Support: Guidance with advertising, networking, and connecting birth mothers.
Collaboration: Ethical, respectful partnership with birth mothers and their attorneys.
Open Adoption Planning: Assistance in creating adoption plans that reflect each clients’ comfort with post-adoption contact.
Finalization: Preparation, filing, and court appearances through adoption day.
Birth Parents
Birth parents deserve dignity, compassion, and support while navigating pregnancy and making decisions about adoption. Building NY Families ensures birth parents understand their rights and have access to resources throughout the process.
Legal Representation Includes:Counsel: Commitment to providing birth parents with information regarding their legal rights.
Support: Guidance with autonomous decision-making throughout the adoption process.
Advocacy: Ensurance that clients have access to ethical and appropriate financial support, medical care, and counseling services.
All services are provided without pressure, allowing each birth parent to make informed and supported decisions.
Foster Adoption
Thousands of children in New York's foster care system are desperate for loving, stable, nurturing homes. Building NY Families supports foster parents as they navigate their journey in family court and provides legal representation in settlements and permanency when children are freed for adoption in New York.
Legal Represenation Includes:Navigation: Guidance through the complexities of neglect and abuse proceedings and the family court.
Advocacy: Collaboration with the County Attorney, birth parents' attorneys, and the Attorney for Child through settlement discussions.
Finalization: If foster children are freed, preparation, filing, and appearances through adoption day (adoption finalization legal services fees are paid through public funding).
Every adoption is a life-changing event for children, parents, and birth parents. It is the firm's honor and privilege to help build forever families.
Stepparent, Second Parent, Adult Adoptions
At Building NY Families, we also represent adoptive parents seeking to secure legal relationships through stepparent adoption, second parent adoption, and adult adoptions. Stepparent adoption provides a path for an adoptive parent to adopt their spouse's child. Second parent adoption is the legal process for an adoptive parent who is not married to the gestating parent.
Both stepparent and second parent adoptions may be contested. Adult adoption provides a path for adoption for adoptees over the age of 18. We provide our clients with assistance in decision making and hearings when required, through adoption day.
Legal Represenation Includes:Initial Consultation: Advise each potential client about how to move forward with securing legal parentage.
Representation: Provide legal services, including document preparation and filing, assistance with service of notice when necessary, appearances at hearings, and finalization.
Parentage
Our team provides married and unmarried couples representation in parentage proceedings. Parentage is the legal process in which non-genetic or non-gestational parents are able to obtain legal parentage through a court order.
Legal Represenation Includes:Communication: Contact with sperm banks and physicians to obtain the necessary documentation for parentage proceedings.
Counsel: Commitment to providing clients with information about the parentage process and the pros and cons of choosing parentage rather than adoption.
Finalization: Preparation, filing, and court appearances on parentage order signing day.
Kinship Guardianship
Kinship guardianship is a legal arrangement in which a relative or close family friend is appointed to provide a foster child with a stable, loving, permanent home. Building NY Families has deep experience representing clients in kinship guardianship matters--an alternative to foster care when adoption or reunification with a birth parent is not possible.
Legal Represenation Includes:Collaboration: Communication with birth parents' attorneys, the child's attorney, the agency, and the family court throughout the legal process.
Support: Guidance through paperwork and hearings.
Finalization: Preparation, filing, court appearances through kinship guardianship proceedings.
Resources & Support
Adoptive families and birth families have questions about what to expect during the adoption process. We provide accessible resources, practical tips, and insights into adoption law and family-building in New York.
Why Partner with Building NY Families?
Over a decade of experience in adoption and family law.
Representation rooted in self-determination of informed clients
Commitment to dignity, respect for all families without judgment.
Learn how Building NY Families can guide you through adoption with care and expertise.