Please answer specific question

Hello, Well, I only know how an independent attorney relationship works. I would contact an adoption attorney specialist and tell him/her the situation. He/She will work out all the details with both parties. As far as the homestudy goes. I know you do this after the child is placed in your care then social services comes after the fact to complete your homestudy. This is only my experience. I know if you work with an agency they will have to have to work thru classes (depending on your situation) and homestudy which will take awhile. I would suggest going thru an independent attorney. They will work the needs for both you and your bmother in question. These are just my thoughts on what you said. Good Luck. I am still waiting for the birth of our baby around Oct. 9th. KB

Thanks for the info. I will do that. I hope all goes well with your new baby. Keep me posted on your new addition! Krista

Krista, you should call a private agency or a lawyer (who does adoptions) and explain your situation to them. A reputable agency or lawyer will want to meet with the bmom and spend some time counselling her...this should be free to her. They will help her to think about things she may not have worked through yet. But for you guys, it can be this easy. The state of California does require a homestudy but depending upon how soon the baby is due will determine if you have to complete it before or after the baby is due. If you can complete the homestudy before the baby is due, the period that the bmom can change her mind is shorter than if you finish the homestudy after the baby is born. Make sense??? We've adopted twice through a private agency and lawyer.

If she is educated in her options and has chosen adoption, here is what you will need to do. You will need to get a homestudy thru Ca DSS which is almost $3,000. In Ca., this process begins once a petition to adopt has been filed with the court. You will need to hire an Adoption Service Provider to advise the bmother of her rights. She can sign the forms 10 days after the advisement and her rights will be terminated 30 days later unless she changes her mind. There is a way around this 30 day revocation if the bmom is willing, but most op for 30 days. You would be responsible for her counselling if she wants it. Medical costs should be discussed as well as pregnancy related expenses. You should hire a private attorney to help you with getting the paperwork processed smoothly. Even if you are good with all that stuff, it is worth it to pay for their experience and guidance. If the adoption is uncontested the attorney should only be a couple thousand max. But you didn't mention the b-father. Is he known and willing to sign? If not, you could be looking at a more complicated and expensive adoption. Hope this helps somewhat.

All of your responses were quite helpful. Here is the situation. I found out about the ** from my husbands co-worker. His co-workers sister-in-law. She is due anyday and is a drug user (speed) the birthfather is currently in jail and her parents are drug users as well. She has 1 previous born child which has been taken away from her by the state and is in foster care. The same thing will happen to this baby if I don't do something. We are talking to her this weekend about possibly stepping forward to adopt her child but I didn't have any idea how to start this process. If she does say yes to this when we speak on Saturday, you're saying that my first step on Monday would be to contact an attorney who specifically handles adoptions right? Then contact the facilitator? Or will the attorney handle that for me? I am jumping out of my skin with this. Me and my DH have been married 10 years and have had 5 m/c and unable to carry to full term. We just started talking adoption when all of this was brought to our attention. My DH does have a 22 year old daughter and we have been blessed with a grandson. We went from the "ok we're ready to adopt phase" to a possible "baby in the house phase" in a matter of 3 days! Thank you all soooo much for your advise! Please respond!

yes, contact an attorney asap. They will guide you with what needs to be done. You don't need a facilitator...their job is to match you with a bmom, which you already have. Good luck to you...not sure where in CA you are but we have a wonderful attorney in Orange County. I pray all goes well!!

Yes, contact an attorney first. The book Adopting in California by R. Hicks was very helpful for me. If you're in San Luis Obispo County, I have an attorney's name. State of California charges $2,900;to process all independent adoptions, this includes homestudy, which is done after you take the child home. They require a physical exam for each adoptive parent, state fingerprinting, DMV check and will want four references that they will send paperwork to. You also have to fill out many pages questions about your life, your marital relationship, your in-law relationship, your upbringing, and relationship with your parents. They make two scheduled home visits, one around 1-3 months and one final visit at approximately 5 months. Hope this helps some. I P.S. PM me if you want to pick my brain some more.

Keep in mind that because this woman is already involved with Social Services (the people who have custody of her other child), she may no longer have the right to place this new child for adoption. Since Social Services is in touch with her, they will know when she has the baby, and may take the baby into custody the minute it is born. The reasoning being that a woman who cannot get "clean" enough to care for one child may not be "clean" enough to choose acceptable adoptive parents, either. Or if she does choose good ones, she still may try to revoke her consent to the adoption as soon as she thinks Social Services isn't looking. (And honestly, many of the cases I've heard about do involve drug-using mom choosing her druggie friends to adopt the baby. Nothing against you personally, just against the choices that mom has repeatedly made in the past, and the fact they don't often change for one child when they haven't changed for the other one yet.) Move forward with caution, but I'd go ahead and move forward. Make sure your attorney knows the whole situation, so he can be sure she is permitted to place the baby for adoption privately without Social Services involved. If Social Services needs to get involved, do talk with them and see what can be worked out. But keep in mind - she appears to be concerned with this child avoiding foster care. But she isn't concerned about that with her other child, as signing her rights to that child over to the state is always an option that would allow that child to be adopted too. I'd wonder why, and asking her that may enlighten you to her motives and therefore some possible complications with the adoption process. Just keep your lawyer informed every step of the way, so he always informs the correct people and keeps everything going. Good luck!

Thank you all so much for all your information. This site has truly been a sigh of relief for me. All of you are so knowledgeable about this subject. Thank God for the internet! What would we do without it. I will keep you updated with the progress. I can't thank you enough!!!!!! God bless you all! Krista :D