getting legal custody in Oregon

If you have someone wanting to place their child with you, you do not have to go throurgh an agency or do the "complete adoption process" that you are probably thinking of. You do need to get a good adoption lawyer for you, and a separate one for her (it is often best for each to get their own to make sure all rights are protected, you will probably need to provide counseling pre and post placement for her, along with any other expenses agreed upon and allowed by law. A lawyer will help you figure it all out. It is MUCH less expensive to do a private adoption than go through an agency. The only financial risk is that you will still need to pay for both lawyers and her pre-placement counseling even if she changes her mind about placement. But that is just part of the adoption party, and is always better than having a child from someone who is not comfortable with placing.So first step, get a good adoption lawyer, and they will know what needs to be done, how to do it and what the costs will be. They will also know about interim guardianship, if you decide to go that route.Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your reply. We do have an appointment today with a family law attorney so that we can see about getting this started. We sat last night and talked things over with the BM and came to some agreements and so today we're going to see about what can be done. The main concern I've got right now is that DHS is heavily involved in her life due to them taking her last baby into custody and we want to try and avoid them running our lives when we take custody of Tabby (the baby is a girl and we plan to call her Tabitha). Tabby should be here sometime around the end of Feb or beginning of March so we do have a little time to work this out. This is new territory for me so I really appreciate all the advice I can get. I KIND OF expected this to happen with her and we'd mentioned that we'd take the baby about a month ago and now she's decided for sure that it's what she wants so we have to get on this. I'm excited and scared all at the same time and, more than anything, I want to make sure that Tabby ends up in a home where she'll really be loved and cared for. With us, well, we aren't rich. She may not always get what she wants but we can give her what she needs and we can give her our love. -Jess

Since DHS is already involved with your friend, you need to be aware that they will most likely take custody of the baby at the hospital. This means that you need to be prepared to take legal custody of the baby at the moment that the hospital social worker and the DHS official show up with the court order. If DHS was not involved you would have the option of filing for temporary legal guardianship.So, what you must do before the baby is born is have a homestudy completed. Homestudies are required in Oregon for independent/private and agency adoption prior to placing the child in the home. There are some states that allow the homestudy to be done after placement has occurred, Oregon is not one of them. The homestudy will cost you no more than $1500, an amount set by state statute. You need to contact one of the licensed providers in Oregon, they can be found here: [url=http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/children/adoption/indadoptions/pages/licensedag.aspx]Independent (Private) Adoptions Licensed Adoption Agencies[/url]The homestudy will involve a lot of paperwork, so start gathering your documents i.e. marriage license, last 2 years tax forms, 2 months of bank statements, driver’s license, health insurance, references from 3 people, your income and debt statement, etc. You will both need to have your fingerprints taken, generally the homestudy provider will give you the form they want to use, the results can take a while to come back, so you’ll need to start this right away. Here is the checklist for a private/independent adoption in the State of Oregon. Every one of these things must be done:[url]http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/children/publications/cknonrel.pdf[/url]Your family law attorney should begin drawing up the petition to adopt. When the baby is born, both parents should sign consent to adopt/termination of parental rights forms. If the birthfather has not provided any support or registered with the putative father’s registry, it is likely his consent will not be needed. The birthparents will need to fill out the medical and genetic history paperwork, which can be found here: [url]https://apps.state.or.us/Forms/Served/ce0246.pdf[/url]You must pay for the birthmother to attend 3 counseling session prior to the birth and 3 after surrender. You will be required to show the court that you have paid for the sessions, and you must notify the birthmother in writing that these counseling sessions are available. The poster above was correct, you will need one attorney for you and one for the birthmother. Generally a private adoption in Oregon costs approximately $5,000 to $10,000 ($1500 homestudy. $2500 your attorney, $1500 her attorney).I hope this helps, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!