Colorado has very specific requirements for parents going through adoption cases, including special rules for children who have Native American heritage.
We handle all types of adoptions, including:
Legal Custody or Custodial Adoption
A non-relative may adopt a child if they have had the child in their physical care for a year or longer or they have legal custody or guardianship of the child. The parental rights of the birth parents must also be relinquished or terminated.
Adoption by Family Member or Kinship Adoption
An aunt, uncle, sister, brother, half-sibling, 1st cousin or grandparent may adopt a child if they have had the child in their physical care for a year or longer. If the relative is married, their spouse must also petition for adoption.
Same Sex Parent Adoption without Civil Union or Second Parent Adoption
In 2007, Colorado passed a law allowing a child to be adopted by a second adult when the sole legal parent agrees to the adoption. We represent the interests of all non-traditional families, including gay or lesbian couples who want to proceed with the adoption process.
Stepparent Adoption
We assist the stepparent in forming a new legal relationship with their spouse’s child. We also help clients determine if the parental rights of the other parent may be involuntarily terminated.
Confirmation Adoption
We assist parents with a child born through assisted reproduction. We help parents who gave birth to a child, parents who contributed his or her genetic material to the conception of the child, and parents who consented to the conception of the child through assisted reproduction to confirm the parentage of the child.
Contested Adoption
The parental rights of tha birth parent may be terminated in situations where the birth parent has died, he child has been abandoned for a year or longer, or child support has not been paid for a year or longer. When a presumed or alleged birth father seeks to object to an adoption, we can help you deal with this contested adoption by legally freeing the child and terminating the parental rights whenever possible.
We can assist families when a birth parent wishes to relinquish his or her rights, adult adoptions or validations of foreign adoptions. Let us help you build your family. Please contact us for insightful, caring guidance throughout the adoption process.