Adoptions in Georgia: Private and Public Agency Placements in a Savannah Adoption

The legal process of declaring a person or minor as legal child of people other than biological parents is called adoption. Adoption relieves biological parents or family from all responsibilities and obligations towards the person who is adopted. Adoption follows certain laws which are regulated by the state. Adoptions involve many legal issues and having an expert adoption lawyer for legal counsel would aid in easy understanding of procedures as well as be of great help in getting required documents ready for successful completion of the adoption procedure.

Adoption can be facilitated through both private and public agency placements. Biological mother transfers or writes off her parental rights to the adoption agency. The adoption agency places this child in a prospective adoptive family. This placement is followed only after detailed home study. Home study is a comprehensive evaluation of adoptive home prior to placement of a child. In Georgia, if a family wishes to adopt a child born to mother who is also a resident or a resident adoption agency, complete evaluation of home is performed. In cases of independent adoptions home study is ordered by court through a court appointed investigator.

The private adoption agency is responsible for placing child in a safe and supportive environment. Thus they

• Screen adoptive parents.
• Performs home study of adoptive parents.
• Counsel birth parents and inform them about their rights.
• Handles termination of rights of biological parents.
• Provides financial help to birth mother wherever possible.
• Supervises placement of child until finalized and settled.

Children in state custody are either placed in foster care or put up for adoption. The adoptive parents and families are screened and have to go through a comprehensive training process before being accepted for prospective adoption. The children reach state custody due to:

• Neglect
• Abandonment
• Misconduct of parent
• Voluntary transfer of parental rights

These children have to be put in foster care for a prescribed time period before they attain legal freedom to be adopted. Many times it is observed that these children have lot of medical and emotional issues that require attention due to difficult backgrounds they hail from. Such children easily gain legal access to be adopted.

Independent or private adoptions are also recognized and allowed in Georgia. The biological parents and prospective adoptive parents work together and come up with an adoption plan without having to go through an adoption agency. The parental rights are transferred to adoptive parents by birth mother directly. In Georgia, the law restricts couples willing to adopt to advertise for a baby as also there are limitations to assistance provided to birth mothers in finding a suitable home. But the law allows network of family and friends to find a birth parent and child.