Adoption – Making happy families

Adoption is the legal process in which parental responsibilities and parental rights of a child are transferred from the birth parents to the adoptive parents.

Normally when I first meet clients the child, or children, they are looking to adopt are living in family with them and there is much excitement for them about starting the process. The first meeting for me is about information gathering and for the client it’s about obtaining information about what the process involves and the likely timescales involved.

From the first meeting I keep clients involved and up to date at each stage of the process including receiving the adoption report from the Local Authority, preparing and lodging the adoption petition, the appointment of the Curator ad Litem and the date for the preliminary hearing. If the adoption is opposed by a birth parent then the Sheriff considering the petition will need to hear evidence about why a birth parents consent should be dispensed with or why the childs welfare requires the adoption order to be granted.

I have experience of assisting prospective adoptive parents in both family based adoptions, such as step-parent adoptions, and in cases where the child, or children, have been placed by the local authority.

I honestly feel privileged each and every time clients instruct me to act as their Solicitor in the adoption process, and to be part of their journey to their forever family.

Lynn L. McMurchie | Partner