The decision to adopt a child is one of the biggest that prospective parents will ever make. In Ohio, there are several ways that individuals can pursue adoptions. They can work with the state or state-sanctioned agencies to find children in need of adoptive placements, or they may endeavor to make independent adoptions directly from the children’s biological parents.
An independent adoption is one that happens outside of an adoptive agency. It generally involves the direct contact of birth parents with adoptive parents and can allow the parties to the adoption to make their own, personal relationships with each other. In an independent adoption the parties work together to effectuate the transfer of parental rights from the birth parents to the adoptive parents.
An independent adoption can take less time that an agency adoption. This is because when adoptive parents work with an agency they may be placed on a waiting list to be matched with a child. This can become a drawn out, frustrating process but in an independent adoption the parties work together from beginning to end to make the legal event take place.
Independent adoptions can have problems, though, and this can include the failure of both adoptive and birth parents of knowing exactly what they are getting into with the adoption process. The rules surrounding independent adoptions are strict and if an Ohio resident wishes to complete one they should seek the assistance of an attorney that can guide them through the intricate process. An adoption is a legal process and in order to avoid problems it is best for the parties to it to have their own dedicated legal advocates.