The adoption process allows children to join loving families who can offer them a safe and comfortable home. Unfortunately, the adoption process can be complex, time-consuming, and frustrating, so it is important for prospective parents to have the advice of an experienced Leander adoption attorney who can help ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Adoption Requirements

In Texas, prospective adoptive parents must meet certain basic requirements before they can begin the actual process of adoption. For instance, to be eligible to adopt a child, a person must be over the age of 21 years old and be financially stable. Adoptive parents must also complete an application that contains information about their background and lifestyle and will be required to:

Adoption is one of the most delicate legal procedures in the Texas Family Code. Properly executed, this process brings a lifetime of joy to an adopting family. But if done improperly, this complex child custody proceeding can mean an almost unheard of amount of heartache and disappointment, to say nothing of an incredibly high financial cost. Given the amount of precision required, it is a tremendous advantage to partner with a board certified expert in a Texas adoption.

Finding a Birth Mother

Many prospective adoptive families simply make subtle inquires in their circle of friends to find a possible birth mother. Another option is to use the services of an adoption facilitator, who will perform much or all of the legwork involved. Advertising online, in a newspaper, or on a college bulletin board may also be an option, but there are legal and institutional rules to comply with in this area.

Deciding to adopt a child is a deeply personal decision. Couples may choose to pursue a closed adoption, where the child and family has no contact with the birth mother, or an open adoption where the child and family has access to a degree of personal information, and may choose to maintain contact with each other once the adoption is complete. According to The Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project, having an open adoption may affect the child's self-esteem and adjustment.

According to the study, in children between the ages of 4-12 the level of openness in the adoption didn't affect self-esteem or adjustment. It did however seem to have an impact during middle childhood for adopted children. The empathy and mutual respect generated by an open adoption between the adoptive and birth parents had a significantly positive impact during this time.

In adolescents, the level of openness wasn't significantly important to the child's adjustment levels. Instead, qualities such as relationship collaboration and compatibility were more likely to impact an adopted child's self-esteem. Another somewhat surprising result from the study was that the level of openness in the adoption did not seem to result in any differences in a child's degree of preoccupation with being adopted, or their adoptive identity.

Adding a child to your family is a very exciting prospect, but it is also a process that can feel confusing and emotionally overwhelming if it is your first time. One way to ease your anxiety is to work with a family lawyer experienced in adoption. This will give you more information about what to expect and how to structure the adoption in a way that is best for you and the child.

The Minnesota/Texas Adoption research project explored two waves of children who were adopted. In their first wave of research, the project creators found no relationship between adoption openness and self-esteem, but those results changed as time went on, possibly reflecting a greater trend about the desire for open adoption.

The first wave of research worked with adopted children between the ages of 4 and 12, and the second wave worked with children between 11 and 21 years old. For older adopted children, there is a positive aspect of having an open adoption: those teens who had birth mother contact were the most satisfied of all research groups with their level of birth parent contact overall. Most of the adolescents wanted more contract with their birth parents in the future, too.

Adoption plays a significant part in the life of Texas families. Adoption creates a parent-child relationship between the child and the adoptive parents for all purposes. Once the adoption is finalized, the adopted child is entitled to inherit from and through the adoptive partners as though the child were their biological child. Obviously, the opposite also holds true. That is, once the adoption is finalized, the adopting parent is responsible for the adopted child as though the child were their biological child. This means that in cases of divorce, the parent may be responsible for things like child support and other costs.

Texas has some specific requirements before an adoption can proceed. The child has to be residing in the state, and the parent-child relationship with the original biological parents is terminated (or in the process thereof). The Texas adoption statute provides for some additional scenarios where adoptions are possible.

Qualified adopting parents commence an adoption by filing a petition, which must meet certain prerequisites. In connection with the adoption, relevant agencies will conduct a pre-adoptive home screening and post-placement report.