When you are looking for an adoption attorney, you will find that adopting a child is a challenging experience legally while it is an amazing opportunity to expand your family. It is most certainly a potentially confusing process, given the complexities of the Illinois Adoption Act and court requirements for adoption proceedings to be valid.
At Granholm & Gynac in Joliet, we have helped many parents in Joliet and the surrounding communities adopt a child. Our firm’s lawyers have experience in facilitating all types of adoptions, including:
- Private adoptions, where the biological parents give the child directly to the adoptive parents.
- Agency adoptions, where the adoption is handled through a licensed agency that acts as a middleman between the parties.
- Related adoptions, such as when a step-parent or grandparent adopts a child.
- Contested adoptions, where one or both of the biological parents doesn’t wish to relinquish their parental rights, but perhaps has been long absent from a child’s life, or is an unfit parent.
Adoptions in the State of Illinois
As a client of our adoption law firm, our attorneys and staff will be at your side every step of the way throughout the legal process. Our team will file the appropriate petition for adoption with the courts, provide representation at all court hearings, complete the paperwork to revise the child’s birth certificate, and advocate for you along the way should any complications arise. We also pride ourselves on making sure our clients understand everything that’s happening in their case as it progresses. Knowledge is power and also brings peace of mind.
Biological Parents Who Oppose an Adoption
As experienced adoption attorneys, our lawyers can also assist biological parents who wish to contest an adoption. For parents who would lose parental rights as a result of an adoption, such a court case can be a scary time. Adoptions, once approved, forever and irrevocably terminate the rights of any biological parent not party to the adoption. Because the stakes are so high, parents who face losing their parental rights as a result of an adoption proceeding, and who do not consent to the proposed adoption, should always seek the advice of skilled counsel.