[xoxoxo28]

Does anyone know what the Pennyslvania laws are for adoption, how long birthparents have to sign and how long the stay is?

[Guspiv]

In PA birthparents can relinquish their rights after 72 hours but there has to be a court hearing, which could be about a month later to finalize the termination of parental rights. There is a link here somewhere that outlines the state by state laws. I'll see if I can find it and forward it to you.

[ses1230]

The waiting period is 30 days. The only expenses allowed are medical, legal and counseling - PA is very strict about that.

Stephanie

[blessedchild@co]

The birthparents have thirty days after signing relinquishment. The interstate papers took all most two weeks between PA and VA.

[ValerieP]

Regardless of the laws in Pennsylvania, please expect the unexpected. We brought our 9 month old home from the hospital two days after her birth (open adoption bmom) and are still waiting for finalization. The bmom signed the paperwork, but the bfather only signed a few days ago.

Our attny said: they have 40 days after signing to change their minds, then they must be served with a notice of termination, and then they file for a date for the termination of parental rights hearing. After all of that is accomplished, we have to wait another 6 weeks before we can have our hearing to become the parents.

I am sure that this is not the normal adoption, but we were not ready for the long -- long wait.

[Guspiv]

PA is very very slow... We live in Pa. We adopted through an agency in NJ because rights can be terminated after 72 hours and once they are signed the birthparents can not change their mind. That was our main reason for going the NJ route. We live close to South Jersey. BUT our son ended up being born in PA.... that didn't cause a problem with the termination(oh but his birthparents had to physically be in the state of PA when the signed the tpr). We messed up when we decided to finalize in PA and getting a court date TAKES FOEVER! We could have finalized in NJ, but we decided to go with a cheaper lawyer in PA, and we wanted a PA birth certificate (why? I dont know it made sense at the time! ). Next go round we will finalize in NJ. YOu get a court date quicker and everything.
I suggest if you live near NJ, go through NJ agency. You can do everything from match, termination and finalization under NJ law. You will only need to have your homestudy and post placement visits done in PA which is not much of a hassle at all, it worked out well for us. We just messed up by trying to finalize in PA... Dumb move! You can PM me for more info.

[blessedmomee]

Our dd was born one month after PA changed it's laws to the 30 day relinquishment. Although the papers were signed, it still took over a year to finalize the adoptions. The court dates took forever to obtain!