This legal guide offers a streamlined review of the adoption process from start to finish. Whether you're just getting into this area of practice or are looking for a refresher, our faculty will help you clarify procedure and manage all the parties involved. Simplify the process with our sample forms and checklists, and anticipate any roadblocks or conflicts. Order today!

1. Key Rules and First Steps
2. Pre-Placement Assessment and Temporary Placement
3. Bio Parents Consent Procedures
4. Surrogacy and Other ART Issues
5. Financial Aspects of Adoptions
6. Finalizing the Adoption and Post-Placement Follow-Up
7. Contested Adoptions
8. Legal Ethics

Continuing Education Credits:   

* denotes specialty credits

1. KEY RULES AND FIRST STEPS
   9:00 - 9:45, Les F. England
   1. Qualifications of the Adopting Parent and Adopted Child
   2. Types of Adoptions and Their Procedural Steps (Foster, Single Parent, Relative, Step-Parent, Gay/Lesbian, etc.)
   3. Interstate Adoptions/ ICPC (Interstate Compact on Placement of Children)
   4. International Adoption (Hague/ Working with the Adoption Agency)
   5. ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act)
   6. Required and Recommended Notices
   7. Forms to Fill Out and Documents to Obtain
   8. Timeline and Deadlines
   9. Filing the Petition: What to Include
2. PRE-PLACEMENT ASSESSMENT AND TEMPORARY PLACEMENT
   9:45 - 10:15, Les F. England
   1. Who can Perform the Pre-Placement Assessment?
   2. Background/Criminal Checks
   3. Home Visit
   4. Pre-Placement Report
   5. Temporary Placement Procedures
3. BIO PARENTS AND CONSENT PROCEDURES
   10:30 - 11:15, David J. Hardy
   1. Consent/Relinquishment of Rights Procedure
   2. Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights
   3. Post-Adoption Contact Agreements - Use and Validity
   4. Drafting Post-Adoption Contact Agreements
   5. Putative Father Rights and Registry
   6. Deployed Bio Fathers' Consent under the Service Members Civil Relief Act
4. SURROGACY AND OTHER ART ISSUES
   11:15 - 12:00, Larry S. Jenkins
   1. Consent/Notice/Relinquishment of Rights Procedure
   2. Pre-Birth Meetings and Procedures
   3. Other Surrogacy Adoption Considerations
   4. Donor Contracts: Drafting and Contesting
   5. Birth Parent Counseling (Grief, Loss, Attachment)
   6. Cutting-Edge Legal Issues in ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies)
5. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF ADOPTIONS
   1:00 - 1:45, David J. Hardy
   1. Medicaid
   2. Group Insurance Coverage under OBRA 1987
   3. Birth Parent Expenses
   4. Adoption Tax Credits
      1. Tax Credit for Adopting a Child with Special Needs
   5. Adoption Assistance
   6. Reimbursement for Non-Recurring Expenses
   7. Social Security
6. FINALIZING THE ADOPTION AND POST-PLACEMENT FOLLOW-UP
   1:45 - 2:30, Larry S. Jenkins
   1. Final Hearing Request and the Documents It Must Contain
   2. At the Final Hearing
   3. Protecting the Record
   4. Disrupted Adoptions
7. CONTESTED ADOPTIONS
   2:45 - 3:30, David J. Hardy
   1. Right to Counsel for Parents
   2. Consolidation of Adoption and Paternity Cases
   3. Legal Grounds for Dispensing with Consent
      1. Standards and Burden of Proof
      2. Failure to Comply with Statute
      3. Abandonment
      4. Abuse/Neglect
      5. Parental Unfitness
      6. Lack of Significant Contact
      7. Failure to Support
      8. Sexual Malfeasance by Putative Father
      9. Child's Best Interest
      10. Guardian's Consent
   4. Custody Determination when Adoption is Dismissed
   5. Time Period for Challenging Adoption Decree
8. LEGAL ETHICS
   3:30 - 4:30, Larry S. Jenkins
   1. Competence and Compassion
   2. Confidentiality
   3. Reasonable Fees
   4. Legal Ethics and Non-Attorney Intermediaries

LES F. ENGLAND is a member in good standing with the Utah State Bar whose practice began in 1981. He has participated in excess of 2,000.00 adoptions.  Mr. England is a sole practitioner in Park City, Utah, and currently limits his legal practice to adoption law.  He is a frequent speaker on adoption related issues, and is a current member of the Governor's Rights for Children. Mr. England is a former member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, and former chairman of Utah Adoption Advisory Board. He graduated from the University of Utah, and earned his J. D. degree from Pepperdine University.

DAVID J. HARDY is a shareholder with Kirton & McConkie, PC, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has spent his entire legal career. He earned an undergraduate degree in political science, as Department Valedictorian, from Brigham Young University. He earned his J.D. degree from the University of Utah College of Law, honored as Order of the Coif. Mr. Hardy also served as a member of the editorial board of the Utah Law Review. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, and is the past-president of the Utah Adoption Council. A substantial portion of Mr. Hardy's practice is dedicated to adoption, and he has appeared in courts throughout the country to address adoption matters.

LARRY S. JENKINS manages the adoption practice at Wood Jenkins LLC in Utah, where his main areas of practice are appeals, litigation and adoptions. He is admitted to practice in Texas, several federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. At any given time, Mr. Jenkins' firm is involved in between 100 and 150 adoption matters, including contested cases, interstate cases and ICWA matters. His firm represents adoption agencies, adoptive parents, and birth mothers. Mr. Jenkins participated in a symposium at BYU Law School in 2007 on adoption law and published an article in the fall 2007 edition of Children's Legal Rights Journal at Loyola Chicago School of Law on the new ICPC. He chairs the standards and practices committee of the Utah Adoption Council. In 2005, Mr. Jenkins was nominated by Senator Orrin Hatch to be an Angel in Adoption. In 2009, he received the Professional Service Award from the Utah Adoption Council. Several of Mr. Jenkins cases have resulted in published opinions from the Utah Supreme Court and Utah Court of Appeals. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys where he is currently a member of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Jenkins is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Utah State Bar, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, and has served for 20 years on the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure. He earned his B.A. degree, cum laude, and J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University.

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