Adoption Law in Illinois
Adoption Law in Illinois
Today you are in for a real treat. We are having a conversation with Michelle. Michelle is an adoption attorney in the state of Illinois. And she's going to walk us through the entire process to adopt a child in Illinois, and give us an overview of the adoption law so that you can get a baseline understanding of what's allowed and not allowed in the state of Illinois. If you haven't already done so please take just a moment to subscribe or follow the podcast. And if you're loving the content you're hearing I sure would appreciate a rating and review as well. All right, let's dive right into our conversation with Michelle. Thank you so much for joining us today Michelle, we're so excited to have you here.
MICHELLE: Oh, I'm excited to be here.
AMANDA: We are just so thankful that you are willing to share more about the adoption process in the state of Illinois with us. Can you start by sharing just kind of a broad overview of what adoption law is like in your state.
Adoption Law In Illinois
MICHELLE: So for me as an adoption attorney, I really think that our adoption laws are fairly easy to navigate and pretty, I don't want to say standard, because every 50 states have different adoption laws, but I would say that most of our laws are fairly consistent. We are 72 hours before a mom can actually sign her paperwork. I always tell my clients, it's going to be more than 72 hours. People hear 72 hours, and they think they're going to stick a sheet of paper underneath her nose at 72 hours. She has as much time as she needs to decide. That might be 74 hours, that might be two weeks, that might be two months. And in addition to that, if the baby's born at nine o'clock at night, there is no social worker or judge who's going to take that signature in 72 hours at nine o'clock at night. Nor do they work on Saturdays or Sundays. So I always tell people to expect more than 72 hours. And when I'm representing expectant moms, I always tell them they can take as long as they want. And they should take as long as they want because it is a very serious decision. When it comes to birth fathers, it gets more complicated because it depends if it's a legal father or a putative father. Men can sign before the adoption or even before the baby is born. Because there are reasons that we want to be able to get them early, as they may leave. We may not be able to find them after the baby's born. So there are different ways that we can have them sign ahead of time. Or they can also sign after 72 hours. Or if they're not signing, there are ways to terminate their rights in court if they are not stepping up to be the father of the child. Birth fathers have rights, and they have the right to parent their children too. But they have to do something about it. They can't just say, well, I don't want this to happen. Because if that occurs, then we as lawyers are going to move forward to terminate their rights. I would also say the thing that people should know about Illinois, we are not an agency state. But in much of the state, we operate like an agency state.
AMANDA: What does that mean?
Can You Self-Match Your Adoption In Illinois?
MICHELLE: So you're not required to use an agency in the state of Illinois. But life is easier when you use an agency. So as lawyers, many of us will guide people towards agencies. Now the first thing that people think is that's so expensive. But we have what is called agency assisted. And when we do an agency assisted adoption, it is far cheaper than what you hear for an agency fee. So when people hear agency, they're thinking 30,000, 40,000, $50,000. When I say agency assisted, I'm talking probably somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000. The agency will actually wrap around all the social work that I as a lawyer cannot do. If an expectant mom needs to be taken to public aid to get on the medical card. They'll do that. If she needs help understanding what's going on in preparation or counseling, they'll do that. Because they are licensed child welfare agencies, they can actually take the surrender consent and witness it and or actually take it depending on which document we're talking about to terminate biological parents rights. They can work on terminating the biological father's rights before the baby is born. Sometimes they work with us as lawyers, but they wrap around all those services. And then if it is a family within the state of Illinois, they will also do the home study and the post placement, which of course, I can't do. So I either have them do it, or I have to send it to a government entity to do it. And generally speaking, most of the agencies are a better choice for most people who are going through this adoption process. Now, if you are downstate, sometimes they do things a little bit differently than we do up in Cook County, the Chicago area. But basically, for most of us, we will kick the social work to one of the adoption agencies that do assisted adoptions. And I personally think it's better for everybody involved. I know that as hopeful adoptive parents people get excited. They want this to happen. And they don't want anybody in the way. They hope that it moves forward in a very positive way without anyone being in the way. But the reality is, this is a huge decision. And you want the woman who signs her rights away, to be certain about what she's doing. Because if she's not, it is going to be your headache. That's what I tell my clients because the reality of the situation is there really aren't any closed adoptions in 2023. You might operate like there's a closed adoption, like you may not be talking to the birth family. But everybody knows who everybody is, you know, they picked you out of a book, or on a website with all your information. It's not that hard to find people. So if she is not confident in her decision, I'm not saying she’s happy but confident in her decision, she's going to call you. So you want her to be confident, because it's the right thing, not only for her, but for the child too.
Birth Father’s Rights In Illinois
AMANDA: Absolutely. Thank you. That was so helpful. There's a couple of terms I want to go back and just break down for our audience as it relates to the definition of a legal father versus a putative father.
MICHELLE: A legal father is someone by statute, who is declared to be the father. So a husband, for example, a husband is a legal father, because if you are married to the mother, it is irrelevant whether you are actually the birth father, the biological father or not, if you are married to the mother, you are the legal father. But there are other instances where someone might be a legal father too. So for example, if a man is at the hospital and signs the birth certificate, and he's on the birth certificate, he's a legal father. If a man, two weeks later signs a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity, he's a legal father. If this isn't a child welfare case, they often do DNA or a man will walk into the court and he will sign something and the judge will enter an order that he is the father. He is the legal father. So a putative father is a man that someone says might be the dad, but in no way has he been in any court order or any statute to be made the father. He's just a guy out there who might be the dad. So the way we treat this is very different. With a legal father, we really have to chase them all down if we have a name. But a legal father has different rights than what a putative father has until a putative father establishes himself as a legal father. In any case, we have to give them all notice. And we in the state of Illinois do have what's called a putative father registry. Not all states have a putative father registry. Most of what I'm going to be talking about is domestic infant adoption unless you actually asked me a separate question because I also do Child Welfare adoptions, international adoptions, adult adoption, step parent adoption, and grandparent adoptions, but I'm trying to stay in the domestic infant adoption wing today. So we in the state of Illinois have a putative father registry. With domestic infant adoption, usually what we will do, because the match in most cases before the baby is born, is that either the lawyer or the agency will check the putative father registry to see if any man has put his name on that registry. Because if he does, then he's entitled to notice. The man actually has up to 30 days after the birth of the baby to put his name on the registry. So we will then check again on the 31st/32nd day to make sure we've cleared that 30 day period. But you don't want to wait until 30 days afterwards, if he put his name on the registry at six months when she was pregnant. You want to know that there's a guy out there who is concerned this might be his child, and he's entitled to notice. And until there's a DNA test done, you don't really know if it's his child or not. Based on the circumstances, you may have a good idea. Sometimes they think it's their kid. Sometimes the mom thinks it's his kid. And it's not. At that point, I would always want a DNA test because you might be fighting a guy that isn't even the father.
AMANDA: That's helpful. You touched on two different terms, and I just want to make sure we break down for the audience so that it’s clear, as it relates to an adoption agency and an agency assisted adoption. So do you mind just for the audience to kind of break down the differences, again between those two options.
MICHELLE: Usually when you talk about an agency adoption, you're talking about a traditional adoption, where you go to the agency, and the agency more or less does everything from A to Z. They start you out with the home study, they look for an expectant mom for you, they make the match, they do all the paperwork, all the surrounding social services, which might include counseling for either the adoptive parents, or the expectant parents, they take the signatures on the paperwork, they do the post placement after the adoption, they do the report that is going to need to go to the court, and you pay a fee for that. With agency assisted, sometimes also called agency identify, the match is made elsewhere. So either you have a self match, or maybe you use a consultant or facilitator, which may or may not be legal, but you use a consultant or facilitator, or the match comes because a friend of a friend said so and so's pregnant, or, you learn about it through some other means that I wouldn't call it necessarily a self match, it is a self match, but you aren't necessarily looking for it, it sort of drops in your lap. So with those types of adoptions, we would use an agency assisted adoption that wraps around the services, at a far substantially less expensive situation than you would with an agency adoption, that does everything. Some people also use marketing services. So they use the agency for the social work services, and they use the marketing services to do the match. Your marketing services facilitator consultant, I mean, these terms sort of overlap, depending on who's using them and why. In the state of Illinois, we have very specific rules whether you can do that or not. And to my knowledge, there are only two facilitators that are left in the state of Illinois, and they have actually abided by the rules or the laws that DCFS has created to exist.
AMANDA: In my Facebook community/group, My Adoption Coach, they ask a lot about self matching. And I know that it's hard to paint a broad brush and I know that in this episode, and by watching this, we're not creating any sort of attorney client relationship. This is purely for informational purposes only. I should have mentioned that at the top of the show. But can we spend a little bit more time talking about facilitators and marketing agencies and all of that, when it comes to self matching what is allowed In the state of Illinois, are they allowed to share via, you know, friends and family that they're hoping to adopt? Are they allowed to use Google ads or Facebook ads? Are there any hard and fast rules that are really spelled out that they need to follow, of course, with the advice of their hired adoption attorney.
Can Hopeful Adoptive Parents Advertise Their Adoption Profile In Illinois?
MICHELLE: So they are allowed to advertise. And there are specific rules of who can advertise, so the potential adoptive parents can advertise. But not anybody else can advertise. Licensed child welfare agencies can advertise. Anybody that's been like the facilitators approved through DCFS, which is our Department of Children and Family Services, or our child welfare department that actually oversees the licensing of all child welfare agencies, whether they do DCFS adoptions or not, they're allowed to advertise. You can go read the statute. It's sort of long, there are specifics, but in short, hopeful adoptive parents or potential adoptive parents are allowed to advertise. And they are allowed to advertise on the internet, and anyone is allowed to talk to friends and family, those types of things, your pastor, your rabbi, your school counselor, I don't really think for the most part, that's how people are making connections anymore. But you can do that. The real issue comes in when money starts getting exchanged. So for the most part, as long as there's no money exchanged, it's fine. But the minute you start hiring somebody, you need to find out if it is a legitimate way to do it or not. And it gets complicated, because the matches can happen. You know, the reality with the internet is, you're matching with people anywhere across the country, right. And so there are certain states that you're just not going to be able to work with. And there are other states that you can work with, and it may be legal in their state, but not legal in your state. So depending upon what the lawyers have to say, you might be able to complete the adoption in that other state versus this state. You know, when people do adoptions across state lines, they really need to get adoption professionals in both states, those two adoption professionals need to have a consultation, because most of the time when I have clients, there's the possibility of two state laws, there are so many factors to decide whether it's better to use my state, or a different state. And I don't know the other 49 states’ law off the top of my head here. So realistically, I need to talk to an adoption professional in that state. And you know, we do a consultation, and we figure out, what are the rules for terminating the biological mother's rights. As I mentioned earlier, in Illinois it's 72 hours, at least 72 hours, but we don't have a revocation period, she can wait as long as she wants. So if she's not ready, she should not sign and she can wait two weeks, two months to sign. But once she signs, she signs. Where in other states, she has time to change her mind after she signs. So that might make a determination of whether we want to sign in Illinois or another state when another state is involved. Ours is 72 hours, some states are 96 hours, some states are right after baby's born, some states are longer, you have to figure that out. How we terminate biological fathers rights. Does she have to name the biological father? In my state, for example, an expectant mom has to fill out a form called the affidavit of identification. On this form, she lists who the father is, but she has the option to not list it. Some states require that the mother list it. So she can either say yes, I know who he is. Here's his name. This is where you find him. Or maybe she knows who he is, but doesn't know where to find him. Or she may be able to say I don't know who he is, that would include circumstances like rape, prostitution, someone who has multiple partners in a short period of time and really just doesn't know which guy is the dad. There's a variety of circumstances where she literally may not know or she may have been drugged with roofies, and she doesn't really know how she got pregnant. There are a whole host of reasons she may not know. Then there is the option where she can say yeah, I know who he is, but I'm not telling you who he is. And usually those are cases, where in my experience, domestic violence is high. I'm not telling you because he’s going to beat me. Or you may get the situation where she says I told him, and he told me do whatever I want to do, but keep him out of it. So that's exactly what she's doing. So we have that option here where she can choose. So that might be beneficial for her, as opposed to a state that requires that she name the guy. There are other things too – how long it takes to complete adoption, how we give a father notice, when we can give a father notice, and we're comparing both states. Then we get into the practical stuff – how much is it going to cost? So how much will it cost to do it in one state versus the other state? Do you have to travel to that state? What is the cost of that? Do you have to travel to the state twice? Some states require you come back for finalization, other states do not. Then you're talking about things like, what are the costs of the lawyers, the cost of the agencies, do you have to get an agency involved? Was the agency a complete agency or agency assisted, or is it just witnessing? So like some states, when I have an agency witness an Illinois consent, they will charge $200, $300, it's not a big deal. Other states are like if we're going to witness a consent, I need $6,000. So then I might make a decision, it's better to get this person before a judge, because we can have our consent witnessed before a Judge too, but then that also depends on how quickly you can get into court. So even if she's willing to sign in 72 hours, if you can't get into court for a month, that doesn't help you. Then you have to hire someone. So we're figuring out all those logistics to make things practical, as well as legal with two states involved. And then on top of that, of course, we have to comply with the ICPC. ICPC is the interstate compact act. And in short, whenever a baby leaves one state and goes to another state, the sending state, the state they leave has to say yes, you may leave the state. And the state that is receiving the baby has to say yes, you may come into the state. And so parents need to understand, they're going to have to stay in that sending state until they get the okay to leave. And it's a whole host of paperwork that has to be given to the state's interstate compact offices, and they review everything. And then they send it to the other state and they review everything from the hospital records to the home study. If it's an older kid, it may include therapy reports, and a variety of other things. They also want statements on legal risk, meaning if the father has not signed off if the adoptive parents know there's a legal risk. If the child has a medical risk, for example, the child has been born with substances in their system that may possibly later cause developmental delays, the learning delays, they want the parents to know that. So they have them sign off on that. In our state, we actually have an adoption and medical exchange registry. So they want parents to know that when the child is older, they can put their name on that registry, and there can be a match. Illinois allows adoptees to get their original birth certificate at the age of 21. So in order to get your original birth certificate, you have to put your name on that registry. So things like that can be laid out in the interstate compact act if you're crossing state lines.
Adoption Revocation Period in Illinois
AMANDA: I think it would also be helpful for the audience to hear the full example. So I've picked up on a couple of threads as as we've gone through is that she can sign her consent 72 hours plus, and again, weekends, don't count on that and be cognizant of the hour of the day and all of those types of things, but then she can decide two weeks, two months, etc. But once she signs it is irrevocable, is that correct?
MICHELLE: Correct. It is final and irrevocable. Except, of course, there's always an exception, right. So we now have in our state what's called designated consents. And that's where she specifically names a specific family. We also have designated surrenders. I'm going to stick to consents at the moment. Surrenders are through an agency and a consent is witnessed by an agency. In a designated consent, the expectant mom would say I am consenting to the adoption of my child by Jennifer and Alan, for example. And as long as the adoption goes through, with Jennifer and Alan, it is final and irrevocable. Prior to that we had general consensus that it was always final and irrevocable. In this case, if Alan and Jennifer do not complete that adoption, then she is entitled to notice, and she can withdraw her consent. Because she may say I picked Jennifer and Alan, and that's the only people I want to raise my child. And if they're not going to do it, then I'll do it. Or I want say in who the next family will be if this family has backed out for some reason. With newborns, in three decades, I think I've seen two families back out. I mean, it's just not common. The adoptions move forward. So previously, if you go back decades ago, there were no open adoptions, the agencies made all the decisions, the expectant mom didn't know where her child was going, except to a family through the agencies, right. But then open adoptions came about and self matching really came about, and there were expectant moms, or by the time they signed moms, who were saying, Wow, I'm signing this paperwork, terminating my rights. How do I know that Jennifer and Alan are getting my baby? I picked Jennifer and Alan, but how do I know I can trust you that they are the ones who are getting my baby. So the lawyers got together and created a new consent called the designated consent that says Jennifer and Alan are going to get your baby. And if they don't, you are entitled to notice. That's the one exception. And since it's been created, I've never had anyone back out. In three decades I have only had two families that changed their mind after the baby came home. So it's there, and it is there to reinforce with the expectant mom, her choice is being implemented.
AMANDA: Okay. So since the consent is final and irrevocable is that the same as finalization, which is a word that we hear in other states?
MICHELLE: It is not. So the final and irrevocable, that is the mom and perhaps the dad, depending on how we terminate his rights, whose rights are terminated. That is not the court finalizing. So when we say finalization, that's when the judge enters an order that says you are the parents of this child. In the state of Illinois, traditionally, it has been six months post placement. Depending upon the agency, you'll get three to six visits after the baby has been placed. And then they will send a report. I personally usually schedule my adoptions to be finalized at seven months because of the paperwork. Because the agency has six months to do the post placement. I can't really turn around the paperwork to the people who need it at the courthouse on that six month day. So I schedule it at seven months and tell them to get it to me at five months. And hopefully, it does somewhere at that six month mark. But there are other people involved. So when we go to court, we have a guardian ad litem who is appointed for the child. So that person, which in my court is always a lawyer, that person will review all the paperwork so they have to review all the paperwork even before the judge reviews the paperwork at finalization time. And so I know you need that paperwork time. I also know that because I am one of the appointed guardian ad litems in Cook County. The way it works in my county, is that we have to apply to the guardian ad litem for the adoption court. And that is different than the juvenile court, by the way, that's a different set of guardian ad litems. But in the adoption court, we apply, we have to get interviewed by the Chief Judge, we get appointed for certain terms, and then we are assigned based on the case number. So it's a random assignment based on whatever the case number is spit out by the computer system. But I know that I have to get everything to the judge at a certain period as a guardian ad litem.
AMANDA: That's not something I've heard in other states. So that's really interesting to hear. So we've talked about how she can sign the consents and how he can sign the consent and the timing of that. And then the finalization The other thing that I think is always helpful for hopeful adoptive families to hear and understand, is the importance of having an adoption attorney as your partner in this. I often caution our community that supporting an expectant family throughout the adoption process can sometimes put your opportunity in jeopardy. And it depends on your definition of support, of course, but in most cases, the exchange of monetary value can definitely put an adoption opportunity at risk. Do you mind to just briefly touch upon the regulations around this?
Birth Parent Support In An Illinois Adoption
MICHELLE: Sure. So every state is different. And if you can pay fees, and how you can pay fees. So in the state of Illinois, it's basically that 120 days before the date of birth, and up to 60 days afterwards.. So depending on the state where she's pregnant, is the determining factor in how you can pay fees. However, how you pay it is very specific. So we have what's called reasonable fees for the expectant mom, and the baby and that is in the statute. That is, there is nothing in there for the father, by the way, just the mom and the baby. And then over, although it's not specific, over the course of time, those fees basically mean rent, food, anything medical, of course, utilities, I mean, it's helpful if she has a phone and you can get in touch with her. You know, you want her to have electric and gas. So she's not freezing her butt off in the middle of the winter, things like that. We cannot pay for education, we cannot pay for her other children's daycare, we cannot pay for travel. For example, I worked with a case a while ago where the expectant mom, she didn't want to rent, she just wanted a trip to Norway. And I'm like, I cannot pay for a trip to Norway. It's just not happening. So it's very specific, what reasonable fees are for transportation may or may not be included. We're in an urban suburban area. So there's usually buses and trains, and so on and so forth. There might be a different decision made if you were in the middle of a very rural area as to what transportation means. So it's very specific. With regards to how we normally do it. There is a small limit that they are allowed to pay so that if the adoptive parents go out to lunch with the birth mother, they can pick up her hamburger because obviously you don't want to make her pay for the lunch. But we don't want to go over that fee amount. So when it comes to expenses, one of the reasons that I love an agency assisted adoption, is the agency will take care of all those expenses. So you pay the agency, the agency will then meter it out, as it should be metered out. And with experience, we've all learned it's better to pay the landlord directly than to pay her. Very, very early in my career, this was a long time ago, I had an adoption, and we made the mistake of paying her directly. This was back when rent was $400. And so this expectant mom got her $400. She was already a parent, and the first thing she did was take her six year old to McDonald's. Because she wanted to give her child something that she doesn't normally get. Well, the problem was she then only had $394 left for rent. And the landlord wanted $400. So that's why we pay the landlords directly, we pay the utility company directly. For groceries, we let her do her own grocery shopping. We want to make sure that there is a roof over her head and food in her belly. I realize in the adoption community, some people think that expenses should not be paid. But I've been doing this long enough to know there are expectant moms who are living in shelters or living in their cars. And that's not the healthiest thing for an expectant mom. So who's going to pay the expenses is what it really comes down to, to protect her health and the health of the baby, in the state of Illinois. I should also point out that once you pay those expenses, those legal expenses that the lawyer has said it's okay to pay or your agency has said it's okay to pay, you should think of it as a gift. You cannot get them back, if she changes her mind after the baby is born and says, You know what, I want to parent, or I'm gonna pick another family, those expenses are gone. Now you might be able to prosecute, if she's been getting expenses from two different families, that would be fraud, but good luck in getting a state's attorney to take that case. It happens, but it’s not an easy thing to prosecute. But at the same time, as the hopeful adoptive parent, you should set your budget, that you are not paying for stuff that you cannot afford. Because there is no guarantee and hopeful adoptive parents need to understand there is no guarantee until she actually signs those papers. And moms think they want to do this and change their mind. They're not even trying to defraud you. They really think we want to do this and they change their mind. To your second question about a lawyer. So getting a lawyer involved early can do a couple of things. First of all, if you're really at the beginning of the process, an adoption attorney, and by that I mean, someone who specializes in this area, I do not mean someone who advertises they're a family lawyer, and really they do divorce. If you're in the middle of a rural area, your lawyer is more likely not to necessarily specialize in adoption, because they will never be able to make a living. So you might be going to a family attorney. But if you're in Chicago, I think there's about eight of us now that this is what we do, adoption or assisted reproductive technology law. So with going to an adoption attorney, we know our local landscape. We know which agencies are out there, we know which agencies will work with single parents, who will work with people who are not Christian, who will work with people who are LGBT, who will work with people who are of color, we know who those agencies are, we might have a decent idea about the wait time, the fees. We know their personality is the word I guess I would say because some agencies are very structured. It's almost like a checklist, you do this, this, this, and this. Other agencies are much more personal in their approach and a little bit more individualistic. I would say that, it depends upon the parents, meaning the hopeful adoptive parents, which agency is better for them specifically. So some people really need that structured environment where you just follow what they tell you to do. And that works for you. Other people need a lot more handling. Once I talk with parents, I am more likely to say, Okay, this is better for you than that. Or if I have, for example, a Latino family, I may know that this agency tends to place more Latino kids. So you want to go to this agency, if you want to have a racial match. So things like that, your lawyer probably has a much better idea. And also, the lawyer may know resources. So for example, in Chicago, we have what's called CAFFA, Chicago Area Families for Adoption. And CAFFA actually has a conference coming up in about two months. The first time back post-pandemic, the term that people are using. But one of the things I love about CAFFA, and if someone calls me at the right time of the year, I will tell them to go to this conference, because, for the most part, all the adoption agencies are there. So instead of going to agency “A” on Wednesday night of this month, agency “B” on Thursday night of this month, and then making a phone call to agency “C” and then going to agency “D” on a Saturday, you go to the one conference and you go table, to table, to table, and you can get all the different fees and personalities and what services they offer. In addition, you get a full day of adoption education. And so the conference only comes around every other year. But if you hit it right, it's a great time to go and it counts towards your educational hours, if you go to the conference. Because in my state, you need so many educational hours if you're adopting a domestic infant adoption, so with rare exceptions, it's a convenient thing to know. So your lawyers know that, then your lawyers can also assess with you. I will do a consultation with my clients or potential clients and try to figure out what they want. Because people will come in with all sorts of ideas, they will have seen stuff on the internet that may or may not be true. And then we can sort of narrow that focus to whether your best route is a domestic infant adoption, or an international adoption, or child welfare, and pros and cons of all these different routes. And in my opinion, each family needs to figure out what's best for them, there is no best route. It's the best route for that individual family. And, if you come into my office, for example, and say we really want to adopt a seven year old, domestic infant adoption is not your best route. That's a newborn. Let's face it, the chances of getting the seven year old through domestic infant adoption is next to nil. I'm gonna either guide you towards international or child welfare. That's just an example. So the lawyer can guide you where to go. And in some cases, very rare cases in Illinois, some of the adoption attorneys will actually do matching. I don't do matching, except in rare cases, because I'm mission driven with those matches. And I feel very strongly that expectant moms who are in marginalized communities should be able to see families that look like that. So on rare occasions, people and agencies will call me and say, hey, I have a black birth mom, and she wants a black family, and I'm connected in that community as well as the interracial community. And then I can do a match. And, I’ll look in my file drawer, who I have that's waiting, but I don't actually match. In general, that's, that's because I'm mission based, I also have a connection in the Muslim community. And I've had people call and say, hey, we need a Muslim family for this expectant mom. Okay, I know who to call. And we'll make that happen. And that happens in communities that are marginalized. But other than that, I am not a matching attorney. There are some that do do it, though. There are attorneys who match across the country. And so I might actually tell somebody, you know what, you will do your adoption in Illinois, but I want you to use this lawyer in a different state, because they make matches, or I want you to use this agency in a different state because they do matches. But again, I don't know all 49 states other than Illinois, I know my territory really well. But ultimately, I have clients who have used other agencies or lawyers across the country. So you start to build relationships, some places, you know, a lot about and some places you don't.
AMANDA: Thank you so much for giving us the overview and kind of the deep dive and then the examples and then really things to consider and think about. How can our audience find and get in touch with you?
MICHELLE: So the best way to get in touch with me is through the phone 312-857-7287. You can also look at my email, which is hugheslaw@mindspring.com. You can actually generally Google Michelle adoption attorney and I will be all over the first page. And then the other way you can do it is I am a member of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Adoption Attorneys, or more commonly referred to as AAAA. If you go to their website and search Illinois attorneys, there I am in the Chicago area. And last but not least, our state DCFS the Department of Children and Family Services actually has a list of licensed attorneys that they work with on their website, because we have been pre-approved to do the DCFS adoptions. I'm there too. So all of those places you can find me or how to get in contact with me.
AMANDA: Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Michelle, for joining us today. We really appreciate your time.
MICHELLE: I appreciate you. Thank you.
AMANDA: Wow, wasn't that conversation with Michelle, just amazing? Michelle really touched on a lot of topics that will really help you get a baseline understanding of your adoption journey. But most importantly, I think she helped you understand, or I hope she did, the need for an adoption attorney in your adoption journey. So if you want to reach out to Michelle, I'll have all of her information in the show notes. If you're still trying to get started in your adoption journey, remember, I have a three step process to make it easier for you. The first step is to determine which type of adoption is right for you. And we use the finding my adoption pathway to help you go through the critical decisions to determine which type or types are really best for your family. The second is to really follow a proven step by step process so that you can avoid unnecessary time and expense in your adoption journey. And we do that inside the private adoption program, where I literally walk you through the step by step process with videos and .pdfs and all the resources that you need for your adoption journey. And the third step in the process is to help you create and share your adoption profile so that you can make an emotional connection with an expectant family. If you want to learn more about all three of these head on over to myadoptioncoach.com to check them out. I'll see you soon friend.
Disclaimer: The information contained herein is not to be considered legal advice. We are not attorneys. Should you wish to hire the attorney mentioned in this post, please contact them directly.
Hi, I Am Amanda
I am an adoption profile expert on a mission to teach you how to adopt and help you create and share your family's story more affordably!
