Contested Adoptions:: A Lawyer's Guide to All Sides

by Karen K. Greenberg, Michael R. Voorhees, Larry S. Jenkins, Mark Fiddler

Overview

Even in the best of cases, an adoption involves high emotions and a need for certainty. While the legal guidelines and relevant statutes for a particular case may be clear, there is the potential for pitfalls and challenges throughout the entire process. To make certain that the practitioner's efforts are focused on the best interests of the child, Contested Adoptions: A Legal Guide to All Sides provides guidance, practice commentary, and client-focused insights drawn from the authors' combined decades of practice in the area of adoption law.

Throughout the book, the authors address topics from the perspective of each of the various parties involved in adoption: the expectant mother and father, the prospective and adoptive parents/family (mother, father, child), and the public or private adoption agency. Topics address the full range of issues that can be involved in an adoption, including:

• The legal definition of the various terms involved in an adoption case and the importance of using them judiciously and correctly
• Terminating parental rights and setting aside an adoption decree
• How to start and handle a contested adoption case
• Preparing for and avoiding trial
• Post-adoption issues
• The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC)
• The Indian Child Welfare Act and its application in contested adoptions
• Relevant state law summaries, and more

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641059367
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	05/02/2022
Pages:	277
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Karen K. Greenberg is a partner with her brother Steven S. Konowitz at (where else?) Konowitz & Greenberg, Wellesley Hills, MA. Karen joined Steven after her stint as an elementary school teacher in Quincy, MA, grades 1, 2, and 3, separately and with a stroke of luck and an understanding principal, in her one-room school-room, cognizant that no two children learn alike.

Karen is a graduate of Boston University, SED, Wheelock College, M.Ed., and Suffolk Law School, 1983, cum laude. Luckily for Steven, while in law school, Karen excelled in photocopying, getting the mail out on time, and successfully consulting her law professors on a variety of “stumpers,” despite her knees knocking and palms sweating. After all, Karen’s highest grade was the third for several years before law school. A founding member of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Technology Attorneys, Karen served on the board as controller and served as president (2008–2009).

Truth over harmony, Karen went to law school to get pregnant. Fortuitously, she did not. Rather, the universe sent her three gifts, Jed, Jenna, and Melissa (arranged in order of arrival, not age), who continue to give by enlarging the Greenberg family with spouses (who, regardless of status, remain with a place at the family table), children, dogs, poignant moments, and life.

 Writing what Karen continues to call “THE BOOK!” gave her the opportunity to discover adoption through many lenses and share law and consequences. Life is a kaleidoscope, which, given the chance, through grace and respect, creates unique beauty. Think about it. Those deciding whether or not to make an adoption plan and others on an adoption journey need the guidance of ethical and well-reasoned social workers, attorneys, and other professionals. Selfishness, misinformation, and deception are destructive. Egos leave little room for the concern of others. Not all adoption journeys end with popping champagne corks. Whatever role you take: think about it

Michael R. Voorhees is an adoption attorney licensed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the State of Ohio. His current law practice is primarily devoted to adoption law and involves all aspects of adoption, including Ohio adoptions, Kentucky adoptions, agency adoptions, private adoptions, contested adoptions, step-parent and other relative adoptions, special needs adoptions, interstate adoptions, and international adoptions. He is a current fellow and past board member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (now known as Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys), and for 15 years he was the chair of the ICPC Committee of AAAA.

To date, he has handled more than 3,500 adoptions, including many interstate adoptions that have included nearly all of the states. He has represented Kentucky birth mothers in many different counties and, in separate cases, has finalized the adoptions for Kentucky adoptive parents in over 45 different Kentucky counties. He has represented Ohio birth mothers in many different counties and, in separate cases, has finalized the adoptions for Ohio adoptive parents in over 30 different Ohio counties. He has also represented nine different Ohio private adoption agencies.

He received AAAA’s President’s Award in 2007, and again in 2008, for his work on ICPC reform. Also in 2007, he received the “Angels in Adoption” award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in Washington, D.C. He has been a frequent speaker on adoption law, including presentations made at state and local bar associations, national conferences, and various adoption groups. He has argued adoption cases in the Ohio Supreme Court and in the Kentucky Supreme Court, with several published opinions. He is a graduate of Northern Kentucky University, Universityof Cincinnati, and Salmon P. Chase School of Law.

Larry Jenkins is a 1986 magna cum laude graduate of the BYU Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He currently is a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, a firm headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has practiced adoption law for nearly 30 years. At Kirton McConkie he supervises the adoption practice and is involved in many types of adoption matters, including contested cases, interstate cases, and ICWA matters. He represents adoption agencies, adoptive families, and birth parents. Larry is a fellow and former trustee of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, fka the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. He is currently co-chair of the Academy’s ICWA Committee and is chair of the Academy’s Governmental Affairs Committee. Larry is also chair of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.

Larry is married to the former Leslie Thompson. They have five children and 14 grandchildren.

Mark Fiddler is a 1988 graduate of the Universityof Minnesota Law School and is the founding partner at the law firm of Fiddler Osband, LLC, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He specializes in the areas of adoption, foster care, third-party custody, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). He was named “Minnesota Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” in 2013 and “Super Lawyer” in 2021. He is a fellow and former trustee of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and is currently co-chair of its ICWA Committee.

Mark has a passion for Indian law. He is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and is the founding director of the Indian Child Welfare Law Center in Minneapolis. He has litigated several adoption and ICWA cases in multiple state appellate and trial courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, including Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. 637, 133 S. Ct. 2552, 186 L. Ed. 2d 729 (2013).

Mark is married to Elizabeth Seaquist and has two adult children (George and Grace Fiddler) and two grandchildren (Isabella and Manuel). He adores his two Labradors. He is also an outstanding cook and spin instructor!