Posts Tagged: Adoption

3 legal options to consider when facing termination of parental rights

If you’ve been off track in bringing your children home, you may feel that you’ve already lost. But it’s important to talk to your lawyer about exceptions to the Adoption and Safe Families Act that may allow you to continue working toward reunification. Each state has different rules. Below are some New York state exceptions you should talk to your lawyer about.

Termination of parental rights is not always mandatory:

Agencies can decide not to change the … Read More

A new bill aims to preserve family bonds after TPR

A coalition of NYC lawyers and advocates has proposed a new bill, Preserving Family Bonds, which would give New York City family court judges the power to order contact between adopted children and their biological families after the termination of parental rights (TPR). Right now, biological parents and children have no legal rights to see each other after a TPR if the adoptive parent doesn’t want it, even if a judge believes it’s in the … Read More

Mothers share post-adoption grief

The grief parents suffer when they lose children to foster care and adoption is “invisible and often goes unacknowledged,” explains Toronto-based social worker Kathleen Kenny and parent advocate Sheryl Jarvis, who run a 15-week support group for women who use drugs and have experienced having one or more children removed or adopted.

Q: How would you compare the grief of a parent who loses a child to adoption to a parent whose child dies?

Jarvis: When a child … Read More

Parents working together after adoption

Once it’s clear that a child is going to be adopted, it can be extremely hard for biological and adoptive parents to maintain a relationship with each other. But without it, children can be forced to choose between two families.

Sarah Gerstenzang, an adoptive parent, and co-founder of the Adoption Foster Care Therapist Network says there are steps both sides can take.

•Adoptive parents can speak to a therapist with the child about what kind of relationship … Read More

KinGap – An alternative to adoption

Guardianship by family members—called KinGap in New York City—is an option instead of adoption. Here, Julie Farber, deputy commissioner of Family Permanency Services at NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services, explains KinGap:

The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program, or KinGap, is designed to help a child in foster care achieve a permanent home with a relative. The key difference from adoption is that the biological parent’s rights aren’t terminated and the child isn’t adopted, but the relative still … Read More

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