[notanewbie]

Sorry for posting in this more general forum and also sorry for posting under another name, just trying to keep my locality away from my regular profile.

We are looking at finalization (yay!) of our domestic adoption and we adopted a baby from Texas. Our agency told us that one of us needs to attend in person for finalization but given how much travel cost us at placement we'd really like to try and do it over the phone if at all possible. I am SURE I heard of people on here who have finalized this way in Texas and I'd love to hear from anyone who did.

The court service seems to say you have to go in person but I also heard from one of the agency workers that someone didn't go in person previously (but she also said "don't tell anyone I told you so" so that wasn't real helpful!)

Thanks all!

[Amber76]

I'm not sure if something has changed since we finalized in 2011, but we were able to finalize in our own state (IN). Both of our sons were born in TX and we finalized in IN both times in 2009 and 2011.

[notanewbie]

Did you go to an IN court, or a TX court remotely?

I think we have been following the TX supervision rules, certainly the TX social worker is doing some but I'm a bit confused.

[ruth74]

I adopted my son from Texas, and I finalized in my home state in December. I was told I could not finalize over the phone, but my agency did allow me to finalize in my home state. I was, however, lucky in the circumstances of my adoption. My home state does not have a putative father's registry, so if C's bdad had not signed, my state would not have recognized the TPR and I would have had to go to Texas. I would check with an adoption attorney in your home state to make sure that the laws line up enough that your state will allow you to finalize there as well as talking to the agency about whether they will agree to you finalizing in your home state if you plan to go that way.

[notanewbie]

Ok, I think I understand now, it must be the putative father registry issue - I will ask the agency if that's why - because it seems to line up as you are saying, Ruth.

[silvaheyes]

Our daughter was born in Texas and we finalized in our home state, Louisiana. We had to go to court in LA to finalize but it seems like you should be able to do this too. We followed TX laws when adopting instead of LA's but could finalize here anyway.

[Amber76]

We finalized in IN. TX terminated birthfather's rights, and then our IN attorney did it too. I'm not sure if that helps you at all. We also followed TX's post placement rules and supervision reports. The birthparents' rights were terminated in TX court, then the agency (who was the managing conservator of our son) sent their consent to the adoption along with the TX TPR paperwork to IN.

[oregongirl]

We adopted in Texas and had to take the agency to court to allow us to finalize in our home state. We ended up winning the case but the judge in Texas allowed us to finalize in Texas over the phone immediately.

[notanewbie]

I have now been told that we can't finalise where we live - I think it is to do with the putative father registry as that is the situation we are in. I think it's simpler for us just to finalise in TX rather than try and wangle something different. Worst case, just one parent needs to fly and we could do it in a couple of days.

Oregongirl, it sounds like you finalised in TX over the phone, even though you had the right to finalise in Oregon (I'm assuming!). So, who did you talk to in TX about finalising over the phone? We have been told perhaps talking to the court would help?

[oregongirl]

We hired Texas adoption attorney Gerald Bates. He was able to talk to the judge and get a court order. We were able to prove that traveling back to Texas would cause a hardship (it would have cost us $3000 for what turned out to be a 5 minute court hearing).

Your other option is to have the placement paperwork changed to read " This adoption does not constitute a Texas adoption. The agency and adoptive parents agree that termination of parental rights will occur per Texas law, while finalization including all post placement requirements and waiting periods will proceed according to the laws of (insert your state here)."

We were told that some courts in Texas will not allow you to finalize over the phone. Lubbock (Tarrant County family court) will allow it, if possible hire an attorney from Lubbock (like Mr. Bates) to file the TPR/petition to adopt in Lubbock, it can be done in any county but the case will remain there for finalization. I would call the family court coordinator for whatever county your TPR documents were filed in.

Hope that helps!

[hooverlicious]

We finalized in TX. After investigating our options, it became clear that the easiest thing to do was have one of us fly down to take care of the hearing. My husband flew down one afternoon, did the hearing the next morning and was back home that night. He even got to meet our son's foster parents while there (I went down solo to pick him up as we have another son the same age). Factor in added legal costs when making a decision. For us it simply made financial sense for the husband to fly down for finalization (we are in WA by the way, so not all that close to TX). Hope that helps.

[notanewbie]

We have been considering our options and we were all set to fly but our original attorney we hear is seriously ill; so we think if we are going to have to change attorneys, we may contact Gerald Bates. I just want to check I have the right one, though, as I see him as being in Fort Worth rather than Lubbock?

I'm sending a PM to oregongirl too about this.

[Carrieg11]

We just adopted a baby girl from Texas a couple of months ago. We were told that if we want to finalize in our home state of CA we would need to retain an attorney here in CA...another $4,000+. So, one of us will end up flying to Dallas for the day...much cheaper

[oregongirl]

Gerald Bates is in Fort Worth. Another good option for an attorney in Texas is Susan Paquet. They were both great.

And for those of you who adopted from Texas but live in another state, it depends on the court and the judge whether or not you can finalize over the phone. Find out where your agency does the TPR, then call the courthouse and ask to speak to the family court judge's staff. They should be able to tell you whether the judge allows over the phone finalization. Our agency went back and forth over whether or not we would be allowed to finalize over the phone. In the end it turned out that it didn't matter what they agency's policy was, it mattered what the court's policy was.