The recent news surrounding the adoption of Baby Veronica, and subsequent legal battles between her adoptive parents and biological father, have renewed concerns for adoptive parents about ensuring the process doesn’t turn into their own personal nightmare.  For most adoptive parents who experience the elation of adopting a child, only to later face the threat of losing that child—the unpredictability can be a traumatic process for everyone involved.

As adoptive parents, one of the best ways to ascertain all the legal ‘I’s are dotted and ‘T’s are crossed in the adoption process is to enlist the help of a professional child adoption mediator who can facilitate a smooth and protective adoption procedure.  Child adoption mediators have been trained to look for and correct potential pitfalls at the onset before they become a threat to everyone involved, including the child who simply wants a family of his/her own.

Child adoption mediation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process that seeks to settle legal disputes or actions outside of the courtroom.  Child adoption mediation is generally facilitated by a lawyer, former judge and/or certified professional mediator who understands adoption laws within your particular state.  He or she can also ensure that all necessary paperwork is correctly filed, and all possible problems are considered at an early stage, to avoid potential problems that could arise in the future between you, the adoptive parents, and other invested parties within the child’s life (the state, the child’s biological family, etc.)

The child adoption mediator is a neutral, third-party facilitator who helps all involved parties reach a legally enforceable settlement in the child adoption process.  While the child adoption process is completely voluntary and confidential, whatever is determined in the mediation settlement will be legally enforced by the court system.  If the parties involved fail to reach a settlement or agreement in the child adoption mediation process, they may then turn to other avenues of alternative dispute resolution or litigation to resolve their dispute.