Adoption

The O'Connell Law Farm handles private and step-parent adoptions, as well as arranging the validation of foreign decrees in Texas courts.

Private Adoptions:  If you have identified a birth mother who is interested in placing her child for adoption, the O’Connell Law Firm an assist you in legally terminating the rights of the birth mother and the alleged biological father. The termination process is a formal procedure, before a Texas court, that must be properly handled to ensure a solid and irreversible legal relationship has been established with your child and before a Texas court. Termination of the parental rights of any living biological parents is a vital part of the adoption process.

The O’Connell Law Firm can represent you, the prospective adoptive parent(s), if the birth mother has not requested any financial assistance to support her day-to-day living. If financial assistance, other than medical and counseling, is requested by your birth mother a licensed adoption agency must be secured in order facilitate your placement.

Step-Parent Adoptions: A step-parent who assumes financial and legal responsibility for his or her spouse’s child(ren), from a previous relationship, can petition the court to terminate the parental rights of the non-custodial parent and adopt the child. This process will release the non-custodial parent from all rights, duties, responsibilities and obligations to the child. A step-parent adoption tends to be far less complicated than a private or agency adoption, assuming the non-custodial parent is in agreement with the adoption plan.

Texas law also provides varying reasons for statutory grounds for termination including, but not limited to, the following:

• abandonment of mother and not providing support for the mother or child

• parent will be incarcerated for at least two years

• parent had rights to another child terminated for endangerment

Re-Adoption vs. Recognition of Foreign Decrees: Have you recently come home with your child and need to determine whether you need to complete a re-adoption or a recognition of foreign decree?

How do you make the determination?

• If your child was issued an IR-3 visa, and your adoption was completed in the foreign country, you will need to have a recognition of foreign decree before a Texas court completed.

• If your child was issued an IR-4 visa, and your adoption was not completed in the foreign country, you will need to have a re-adoption before a Texas court completed.

By completing a re-adoption or a recognition of foreign decree, you will have a United States Order for Adoption and you will no longer have to produce the judgment obtained in the foreign country. While your child’s foreign birth certificate is legal and binding within the United States, getting certified copies of your child’s birth certificate will be much easier if you only have to contact the Texas Department of Vital Statistics, as opposed to trying to obtain one from the foreign country. As you know, your child will need certified copies of his or her birth certificate whenever you need to register him/her for school, participate in athletics, or even if he or she chooses to adopt in the future. A re-adoption and recognition solves this problem since the adoption will take place in your local county. Finally, a re-adoption or recognition allows you to obtain a Texas birth certificate listing you as the birthparent(s) of your child. A legal name change can also be requested during this process.

Jill O’Connell offers both personal and professional experience in adoption. She is an adoptive mother and has over 15 years of experience in assisting families with private and step-parent adoptions, as well as establishing the recognition of a foreign decree by a Texas court. If you would like to discuss Texas laws with regard to an adoption, Jill O’Connell can answer questions as it pertains specifically to your family and your needs.