Here are some of the adoption and surrogacy highlights in my law practice this year:
A model open adoption in which the birth parents lived with the adoptive parents for a week before the baby was born! The trust and caring between the adoptive family and birth family was remarkable.
A cousin volunteered as a gestational carrier in an extraordinary act of compassion.
A number of adoptive parents were present at the birth of their sons and daughters, sharing in their children’s lives from the outset.
Birth parents chose adoptive parents based on feeling a deep synergy with them from viewing the adoptive parents’ website. When the four met, it turned out that they had attended a recent music concert on the same night.
A Pre-birth Order of Parentage was issued by the New Jersey Superior Court naming the intended parents as the child’s parents. The Pre-Birth Order in this case became effective under New Jersey case law following the birth when the gestational carrier consented and the elated intended parents applied for their son’s birth certificate.
Adult adoption of two sons, giving legal effect to their relationship with their stepfather who had raised them for twenty years. Their non-biological brother and sister attended the final hearing to celebrate their family.