Guiding Clients In Kansas City In Stepparent Adoptions

As new families evolve from second marriages, stepparents are often eager to adopt their stepchildren. I delicately handle stepparent adoptions, knowing these cases can be sensitive.

I am attorney Kathryn Beeman and have more than 20 years of experience practicing extensively in family law. My strong legal background has prepared me to effectively work with families of all types. Contact my law firm to schedule a consultation.

A Hands-On Approach To Stepparent Adoption

For more than a decade, I have focused my legal practice around listening to clients’ unique situations. Each family is different.

I have worked with clients who remarried after their first spouse passed away. In this scenario, the stepparent adoption process is fairly straightforward as there are no concerns about the biological parent’s right to the child.

I have also worked with clients after one biological parent drops out of the child’s life and the stepparent wants to adopt the child. This emotionally draining situation can be resolved with termination of parental rights. When biological parents do not consent to the stepparent adoption, I need to prove child abandonment, involving:

• Failure to contact the child for six months
• Failure to pay child support for six months

I also help women who are getting married and uncertain of their own child’s biological father. This father has rights. I show the court we made every attempt possible to track down the biological father. For example, I list adoption notices in local papers with the child’s full name to give biological fathers the opportunity to become part of the child’s life. I also research the statewide Putative Father Registry to locate any potential fathers. The stepparent adoption process will move forward smoothly, after showing the court we tried everything possible but could not locate the biological father.

Contact Me Today

When biological parents consent to stepparent adoption, the process is straightforward after the court performs a background check and reviews the new parents’ references. If the biological parent fights the step parent adoption litigation may be necessary. I am a lawyer with a strong background handling complex cases. Contact my law firm today and put my experience on your side.