[JillnoJack007]

Hi everyone. My name is Jillian, I'm new to this community and so excited to be here. I've been trying for 7 years to have a baby and haven't been able to carry to full term. I left it in God's hands and he brought a young lady into my midst who asked me to adopt her baby girl. I am ever so grateful! We've decided to go the fastest, easiest and most cost effective route we've found thus far. Doing it ourselves through a do it yourself service. Has anyone ever done this before or considered doing it? It's pretty much where they prepare all of the paperwork for you and you print, sign and file. I'd like any views or experiences anyone can share on this topic. I did speak to one member that has used this type of service successfully. Makes me feel much better about my decision to try it. Thanks and nice to meet you all.

Jill

[Vogi2002]

As far as I know you have to have a lawyer for various parts of an adoption, even if you found each other yourselves.

Plus, no matter if they have an agency or not, the girl is going to need counseling & needs her own counsel (lawyer) so she knows her options.

[Sohmakun]

How are you going to do your homestudy? What about finalization and your open adoption agreement? Who takes care of these aspects of your adoption?

[sambob]

I've never heard of a "do it yourself" adoption. You can certainly streamline the process, but you want to make sure everything is done right. At a minimum you should definitely work with an attorney to make sure all the legal issues have been addressed, and you need a professional to complete your homestudy.

[startedover]

We could have done more by ourself. We were contacted by a girl that was going to deliver in 5 days. I got a lawyer because I did not want to chance leaving an i undotted or a t uncrossed and mess it up. I wanted to make sure I understood every aspect of the law. I am glad I did, it was worth the lawyers fee. I do believe home studies are strongly recommended if not manitory. Fee free to pm me if you want anymore info.

[mandirenee]

You are required to have a homestudy by a licensed agency.

As far as the legal process, you might be able to do some yourself, but adoption laws are very tricky and you wouldn't want to risk your adoption.

I would suggest calling your states children services and asking them what is required for independent adoptions. They will be able to tell you.

But, even using an attorney you should be able to stay between $2,000-$6,000 depending on the specifics. And you can file for the adoption tax credit and get up to $11,000 back.

Best of Luck!!!!

[Asha0314]

Wow, I would be so scared to try to manuever thru an adoption without a lawyer.

I would strongly suggest at the very least consulting with a lawyer to find out the legal requirements, if not retaining one for counsel thru the entire process,

afterall adoption is at the heart of the matter, a legal procedure.

[ourdreamcametru]

For us the small cost of hiring an attorney and making sure everything was legel and done correctly was not even a question. I would not advise a do it yourself route, I've personally never heard of this. You HAVE to have a homestudy! Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

[timleenettesue]

We did foster to adopt, so everything is done by a DHS worker. But there is so much paper work and legal matters that I can not imagine doing myself. Investing in an lawyer would definately buy you piece of mind.

[Gwen72]

It's my understanding that you are required to have a homestudy in order to adopt in every state. Also, I believe the emom should have someone to counsel her on all her options before the adoption and counseling/support after the adoption. That's why we personally went with an agency. If an agency is not your preference then I would find a lawyer that specializes in adoption law in your state. They can make sure the emom knows all her options and get her counseling. They also protect you from having the adoption denied or overturned. You don't want to go through this and have a judge decide to not grant the adoption because a T was not crossed and an I was not properly dotted. Adoption can be a mine field for everyone involved. I think you should invest in someone to walk you through it. Good Luck with whatever you decide. I hope this works out for you!

[mommieof2cuties]

I have heard of do it yourself, the paper work end of it, you can go online do all the paper work, print it file it etc, you can even go to some office stores and get an adoption packet. However, the issue has always been and always will be the homestudy, and the services for the pbmom I am in favor of attorneys and agency's not taking money, but you need to be cafeful for your sake, and pbmom's sake. Maybe find a non profit in your area to help? But as someone who is opening a nonprofit myself, I can tell you that the pbmom's need to have counsling and other things for them that you couldn't provide the way you stated.

[mommmmy]

We did a step parent adoption ourselves but all parties were involved in the process and there was no post placement reports needed and/or homestudy at that point in time (I don't know what the laws are regarding that now)

For a situation like this...I would soooooo not recommend doing it yourself. And yes I would think it would be very difficult to do it yourself because of the homestudy and post placement reports. There are just too many issues with adoption to do it yourself. I certainly wouldn't want there to be anyway that things could fall apart down the road if something wasnt done correctly.

I won't even use an attorney that doesn't specialize in adoption for adoption. It's just way too risky.

[WAMozart]

We did that exact thing.
We retained a lawyer for ourselves (it's the law) and paid for our homestudy, but that was it.
It was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad to have done an independent adoption.
Bonus: The adoption tax credit gave us back every dime we spent.
Best of luck to you.

P.S. It's called "independent adoption" and your attorney (no way around that) will handle all the paperwork. Ours was a godsend, and it was *not* expensive to retain her. She is one of the best attorneys in Chicago, but has a flat-fee service for indy adoptions. We didn't really have to do any legwork. She would send, we would sign, we would return, she would file in court.