Adopting a Child Informally

You want to adopt a child in the home informally or with little or no paperwork.

For some families, children just appear; maybe you are the sitter for a child whose parents never returned, maybe you are that parent on the street where all the kids hang out and one took up residence, maybe your teen brought home a friend from school who needed refuge. 

These stories sound incredible until they are your story. Sometimes these cases are contested and nasty, and sometimes the birth parents are sadly quiet. The rules that apply to other cases regarding home studies, termination of parental rights, etc. all apply here.

Many such families have another pressing problem. They often don’t have a court order or power of attorney to get the child medical care and enrolled in school, and a birth parent may show up and take the child at any time. This is not a stable status for a child. 

You don’t just need an adoption lawyer, you need a lawyer to help you get a basic custody order or power of attorney. Consult an experienced attorney that can help you with the short term problem while you sort out the longer term goals.