Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / freedigitalphotos.net

Adoption is an amazing opportunity for individuals or couples who are unable to have children of their own, or who want to be a family to a child (or children) who don’t have one.  In most cases, the adoption process can happen smoothly without the need for professional legal assistance; however, for some situations, particularly circumstances of “open adoption,” this is not always the case.

Open adoption is when the child’s birth parents are known to the adoptive parents.  While the legal rights of the birth parents are usually terminated, there are other issues to be resolved such as the frequency and length of visitation, the amount of contact between the birth parents and child, and the amount of information about the child to be exchanged.  Mediation, as a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a great forum for resolving these issues related to adoption, and more.

Particularly in cases of open adoption or foster children who are later adopted, mediation can be a helpful way to resolve issues that have arisen in the past and might still arise in the future.  Through the process of mediation with a neutral, third-party legal expert who is well-versed in adoption law, the child’s adopted parents can work together in a respectful, meaningful dialogue with the child’s biological parents to ensure that the best possible outcome for the child is maintained in the adoption proceedings.

Adoption mediation is a way to peacefully resolve any issues that could potentially arise in the adoption process and assists all parties involved (including the child being adopted) in maintaining a cooperative relationship throughout the process.  If this cooperative relationship fails, a full-scale legal battle could land everyone involved in a lengthy and expensive litigation process—something that should be avoided if at all possible.