Helping Your Family Grow
Adoption allows for families to grow and change, and it provides loving, stable homes for children; however, it can be a difficult and stressful process when you don’t understand your rights and options. I am Anchorage attorney Dorothea G. Aguero, and I help families throughout Alaska throughout the adoption process. Whether you want to adopt a new baby, a foster child or a stepchild, I can help your family grow.
From Stepparent To Same-Sex Adoptions, I Can Help
With over 25 years of experience handling adoption cases, I understand the legal processes involved, as well as the challenges and options available. I have helped people bring children into their families through intrafamily adoption, foster care adoption, stepparent adoption and infant placement, including cases involving the Indian Child Welfare Act. I also help clients in the greater Anchorage area with guardianship issues for children, adults with special needs and grandparents.
Whatever your situation, I will make sure you understand your rights and options as I guide you through the adoption or guardianship process:
- Third-party adoptions and infant placement
- Indian Child Welfare Act cases
- Intrafamily adoption
- Stepparent adoption
- Foster parent adoption
- Single-parent adoption
- Adult adoption
- Guardianships for kids, adults with special needs and the elderly
- Grandparents’ rights to visitation
- Grandparent guardianships
- Family formation through artificial reproductive technology
Navigating Contentious Adoptions
While adoption is rewarding, it can be difficult when a child’s biological parent is unable or unwilling to surrender parental rights. If you are facing a contested adoption, the lawyer you choose to represent you can make a huge difference.
If one parent is no longer involved in their child’s life and the other parent’s spouse wants to adopt his or her stepchild, I can help. In Alaska, the law allows adoption without the consent of one parent if that parent has failed to meaningfully communicate with or support the child for a year; however, that parent must be personally served with the adoption papers. I will make sure the entire process is handled correctly.
Same-Sex Adoptions
While same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, adoption laws can be complex when it comes to same-sex partners. I encourage all families to grow and become whole through adoption, and I have helped same-sex couples adopt whether they are married or not.
Assisted Reproductive Technology
As another way to parenthood, assisted reproductive technology (ART) has continued to develop, and there are many legal issues associated with it. Assisted reproductive technology involves intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF) and third-party assisted procedures, including sperm donation, egg donation, surrogacy and gestational carriers. Both traditional and gestational surrogacy are permitted under Alaska law. It is important to make sure your rights and expectations are protected in these options. My law office keeps current with the law in this field and offers legal counsel and services such as reviewing, negotiating and drafting of contracts for surrogates, donors and intended parents, in addition to services related to securing your legal relationship to the child if you are the intended parent or parents.
Contact Me
Whether you want to bring a child into your family or need to obtain a legal guardianship, it is important to understand your rights and alternatives and obtain knowledgeable help. My Anchorage, Alaska, law office is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact me today for a phone consultation at 800-481-7140.