Curtis Kleem - Adoption Lawyer
Adoption law overview
Adoptions in Georgia come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from adopting newborns to adopting adults, and from adopting your grandchild or your step-child to adopting a child without ever knowing the child’s biological parents. Given the variety of adoptions, you should find an attorney who handles adoptions regularly, and can advise you about the ins and outs of this complicated area of the law.
Curtis Kleem learned adoption law during his first year after law school, when he was a law clerk for the Whitfield and Murray County Superior Courts. One of Curtis’ responsibilities that year was to review each and every adoption petition that was filed in those two counties. Curtis made sure that every legal requirement was met for each adoption filed, whether it was a step-parent adoption, a relative adoption, an international adoption, a non-relative adoption or an adoption of a foster child after the parental rights had been terminated.
Each of these adoptions is different and has different requirements. In most adoption cases, there is no opposing party. This means that the Judge and the law clerk, and the rest of the Court staff, carefully review adoption petitions to make sure that they comply with every aspect of Georgia law. Because of this, you want your adoption attorney to know the adoption code inside and out, and to have plenty of experience representing families in adoptions. Further, in 2018, Georgia passed a new adoption law which changed the requirements for adoptions. Curtis has already filed and completed dozens of adoptions under the new law. He stands ready to serve as your lawyer for your adoption case.
Documents needed:
Types of documents needed to file with your adoption petition:
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First, if you are married, you will need to supply a copy of your marriage license or marriage certificate.
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Second, a copy of the birth certificate of each child to be adopted is needed.
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Third, there are state forms that are required that detail the social, educational and medical history of the biological parents of the child. If you are adopting a foster child, then the Department of Family and Children Services usually completes this form with the biological parents at some point long before the adoption is begun. If not, I will often have my clients fill out the form as much as possible.
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Fourth, there are documents that deal with the parental rights of the biological parents. Sometimes, those parental rights have already been terminated. In that case, the termination order from Juvenile Court will have to be provided. At other times, I may have to prepare surrender documents where the biological parents would surrender their parental rights in the early stages of my representation of my clients.
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Fifth, under the new adoption code, all adoptive parents will have to submit to criminal background checks. I usually coordinate with my clients very early in the process to get this done prior to filing the adoption petition.