- Birth Parents
- Adoptive Parents
- Step-parents
- Adults
- Assisted Reproduction
- Services to Adoptive Agencies
- Mediation Services
We work with birth parents at all stages of the prospective adoption process. We provide caring and reliable legal representation to birth parents who are interested in exploring their adoption options, who have decided to place their child for adoption, and/or who are negotiating an open adoption agreement. We explain and guide you through all aspects of the process to help you make the decisions that are best for you and your future relationships. We work and advocate for you, to see that your rights and wishes are respected and to ensure that you receive the care and resources you need and deserve. In most cases our services are paid for by adoptive parents at no cost to you.
Adoptive Parents:We are prepared to guide adoptive parents through what can be a bewildering maze of adoption options and legal requirements. If you are in the beginning stages of exploring options, we can help you understand and evaluate which options might best suit your situation. If you already have identified a child you wish to adopt, we can guide you through the legal process. Whether you are adopting a child through a state agency, through a private agency, or independently -- and whether the child you hope to adopt was born in the U.S. or overseas -- we offer experienced, problem-solving legal representation. Let us handle the legal requirements of your adoption so that you can focus on your child and your family.
Step-parents:
We assist and prepare step-parents who wish to legally adopt the children of their partners or spouses. Step-parent adoptions can be simple, straightforward, and inexpensive procedures -- especially when the non-custodial parent consents to the adoption. In other cases, issues regarding the rights of noncustodial parents and grandparents may complicate the picture. In all step-parent adoptions the legal requirements and consequences of the proposed adoption should be thoroughly understood and considered before proceeding. We can help you evaluate and assess your specific situation and explain what adoption might mean in terms of inheritance rights, child support, and other legal rights and obligations. It's our goal to provide you with a finalized step-parent adoption as quickly and inexpensively as possible under your particular circumstances.
Adults:
Sometimes one adult wishes to adopt another adult in order to legalize a long-standing emotional, step-parent, or other care-taking relationship, or to create inheritance rights. As with step-parent adoptions, all persons contemplating an adult adoption should be informed of and thoroughly consider the legal requirements and consequences before proceeding with the adoption. Also like step-parent adoptions, under many circumstances adult adoptions can be accomplished quickly and at relatively low cost. Let us help you understand what is involved in adult adoption and determine whether your circumstances would allow a quick and inexpensive procedure.
Assisted Reproduction:
Thanks to continuing medical advances, there are ways of creating families in addition to adoption, including a number of options with regard to surrogacy, egg and embryo donation, and gestational carriers. We are familiar with the options and available to represent any party involved in the process -- whether it be the eventual intended parents, a sperm or egg donor, a traditional surrogate, a gestational carrier, and/or the spouse of any such persons. A well-drafted and inclusive written contract between and among the parties involved in assisted reproductive technology is essential. We have years of experience negotiating and drafting detailed multi-party agreements. We are conscious of the many emotional issues that can accompany the surrogacy process and we treat all parties with sensitivity and respect. We maintain the highest standards of confidentiality with regard to this and all private matters. For more information about our services in this regard, see our Surrogacy and Assisted Reproduction pages.
Services to Adoption Agencies:
We have formed Adoption Agency Legal Group in order to provide a broad range of legal services to adoption agencies across the U.S. Our focus is on risk management and risk avoidance for adoption agencies, and we believe that our substantial litigation background is invaluable in this regard. We work actively with agencies to develop forms, contracts, policies and procedures designed to help minimize exposure to legal risks.
For some agencies we serve as general legal counsel, available on short notice to provide advice and assistance on a wide array of legal issues. For other agencies we provide advice and assistance in specific problem areas.
We recognize that many agencies will be subject to sweeping new federal legislation designed to implement the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. In response, we have spent hundreds of hours analyzing the Hague Convention and have developed and are pleased to offer a multi-volume Hague Accreditation Assistance Manual in order to help agencies to become accredited.
Mediation Services:
Clear communication is essential to an effective adoption process and mediation can play an important role. Birth parents and adopting parents may wish to mediate issues concerning continuing contact and communication after adoption (i.e., "open adoption"). There may be an issue or dispute between a birth parent or adopting parent and a state or private agency. We are familiar with the emotional and practical issues that can arise in the context of adoption and we are trained and experienced in mediation theory and practice, having mediated over 100 cases of all kinds. Please see our web site at mediation.tfbrewer.com for more information about our mediation services.
No Charge for Initial Conference:
We offer prospective clients the opportunity to meet and talk with us and explore questions, issues, and potential costs and fees before committing to an attorney-client relationship. Therefore, we allow an initial 15-30 minute conference, either in person or over the telephone, at no charge to you. If, at the end of that conference, we determine to work together, we will do so on a fee basis that is mutually agreeable and in writing.
Flat Fees:
In many cases, the legal services for adult adoptions, agency adoptions and step-parent adoptions can be provided on a flat fee basis. Depending on the type of adoption and the factors involved, the flat fee typically ranges from $500 to $2,000.
Hourly Rate:
Some adoptions -- notably independent adoptions and those in which one legal parent has not consented to the adoption -- are typically billed on an hourly basis. Please call for our current rates.
What is Included:
Many attorneys charge extra for things like secretarial time, faxes, copies, postage, and long distance telephone. We don't. Ordinary postage, long distance, faxes, copies, secretarial and clerical time, and travel within Lane County, Oregon are included in our flat fee and hourly rates -- we do not charge these costs separately or additionally. Out of pocket costs, like government fees, court fees, etc., are not included, and must be paid by the client.
Adjustments:
The fees and hourly rates set forth in this website are subject to change without further notice. The actual rates and fees applicable to any particular client are those set forth in the written Attorney Employment Agreement.
