An Overview of Pennsylvania Adoptions from a Pennsylvania Adoption Lawyer

Our attorneys can help you with your Pennsylvania adoption proceeding. Adoptions are very personal. They are personal to you, and they are personal to us. At our law firm you will deal directly with an attorney who will handle all aspects of the adoption for you. Our adoption attorneys handle adoptions in Potter County, McKean County, Tioga County and Cameron County, Pennsylvania.  We handle everything from the Notice of Intent to Adopt through the Final Adoption Hearing. Whether you are adoption through an agency or as a private adoption, we can help you. We can help you determine whether a voluntary termination of parental rights will work or whether we will need to involuntarily terminate rights. Our firm has handled adoptions by consent and adoptions where a parent is in jail or prison and rights were involuntarily terminated. Our firm has also successfully handled appeals of termination orders. You can trust our professional and experienced attorneys to help you and to care about your adoption. After all, at Ross & Ross - helping people is our business.

Adoption Facts

The parent-child relationship is as intense as it is personal. As an adoptive parent, you take on the responsibilities of caring from the child as well as the right to make important life decisions for the child such as adecisions about the child's education, religion, medical treatments and upbringing.

In the same way, adopted children gain the rights and responsibilities of a natural child of the adoptive parents, including the right to an inheritance and the right to receive child support.

Legal Requirements for Child Adoption

• In Pennsylvania a child can have only one mother and one father. If, for example, a stepfather wants to adopt a child whose natural father is still living, then the natural father's parental rights must first be terminated. This can be either voluntary or involuntary.

• To terminate the natural father's parental rights, then the stepfather and mother would have to show that the natural father had abandoned or neglected the child.

• The court will hold an adoption hearing, at which time the adoptive parent will have to submit testimony and evidence to prove that he or she is a fit parent.

If you would like to learn more about child adoption, stepparent adoption, grandparent adoption or guardianship, you should consult with an experienced lawyer. For a free initial phone consultation at Ross & Ross, LLC call (814) 274-8612 today.

We handle adoption matters resulting from second marriages, termination of parental rights, and other circumstances where parents can no longer take care of their child. We serve step-parents and other primary caregivers who would like to formalize their custodial relationship with a legal adoption.

We handle a wide range of adoption law matters including:

• Stepparent adoptions

• Grandparent adoptions

• Domestic agency adoptions

• Private adoptions

• Surrogate mothers matters

Contact Our Experienced Pennsylvania Adoption Attorneys Today

Child Custody

Why Do We Care About Helping You?

Our firm is dedicated to helping people. We want to help you find a workable solution that will protect your children and provide a stable future for them. At Ross & Ross, each child matters.

From offices in Coudersport, Potter County, Pennsylvania, Ross and Ross, LLC serves the personal injury, bankruptcy, social security disability, divorce and family law needs of Western, Northwestern, Central and North Central Pennsylvania including the communities of Coudersport, Galeton, Shinglehouse, West Branch, Smethport, Port Allegany, Bradford, Roulette and Wellsboro, as well as Potter County, McKean County, Tioga County, Bradford County and other areas of Western PA and Central PA.