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 Initial Steps
2. Pre-Placement Report and Temporary Placement
3. Biological Parents Rights
4. When There is an Obstacle to Adoption - An Overview of the Other Legal Actions
5. Legal Ethics
6. Finalizing the Adoption and Post-Placement Follow-Up
7. Contested Adoptions

Continuing Education Credits:   

* denotes specialty credits

1. KEY RULES AND INITIAL STEPS
   9:00 - 9:45, Janna J. Annest
   1. Who Can Adopt and Be Adopted?
   2. Types of Adoptions and Their Differences (Foster, Single Parent, Relative, Step-parent, Gay/Lesbian, etc.)
   3. Interstate Adoptions and the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC)
   4. International Adoption (Hague/Working with the Adoption Agency)
   5. Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
   6. Service Members' Civil Relief Act
2. PRE-PLACEMENT REPORT AND TEMPORARY PLACEMENT
   9:45 - 10:15, Janna J. Annest
   1. Selecting a Qualified Social Worker
   2. Contents of the Pre-Placement Report
   3. Paperwork to Gather
   4. The Home Visit
   5. Background, Criminal History and Child Abuse Checks
   6. When Baby Arrives Before Your Pre-Placement Report
3. BIOLOGICAL PARENTS' RIGHTS
   10:30 - 11:15, Janna J. Annest
   1. Rights of Birth Mothers
   2. Rights of Actual, Presumed, Putative, and Alleged Fathers
   3. Consent/Voluntary Relinquishment of Parental Rights
   4. Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights
   5. Post-Adoption Contact and Communication Agreements
4. WHEN THERE IS AN OBSTACLE TO ADOPTION - AN OVERVIEW OF THE OTHER LEGAL ACTIONS
   11:15 - 12:15, Emily J. Tsai
   1. Non Parental Custody RCW 26.10
   2. Parental Actions Under RCW 26.26
   3. De Facto Parenting After Parentage of M.F.
   4. Common Law Rights to a Guardian Ad Litem
   5. Common Law Rights to Child Support
5. LEGAL ETHICS
   1:15 - 2:15, Emily J. Tsai
   1. Conflicts of Interest in Adoption
   2. Identifying the Client
   3. Confidentiality
   4. Fees
6. FINALIZING THE ADOPTION AND POST-PLACEMENT FOLLOW-UP
   2:15 - 3:15, Joyce S. Schwensen
   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
   3:30 - 4:30, Joyce S. Schwensen
   1. Right to Counsel for Parents
   2. Consolidation of Adoption Paternity Cases
   3. Legal Grounds for Dispensing with Consent
      1. Standard and Burden of Proof
      2. Abandonment
      3. Lack of Significant Contact
      4. Failure to Support
      5. Sexual Malfeasance by Putative Father
      6. Parental Unfitness and Child's Best Interest
      7. Dispensing with Guardian's Consent
   4. Custody Determination when Adoption is Dismissed
   5. Time Period for Challenging Adoption Decree

JANNA J. ANNEST is an adoption attorney and litigator in Seattle, Washington. She earned her J.D. degree, with honors, from the University of Washington School of Law in 2003 and has practiced with the law firm of Mills Meyers Swartling since that time. During law school, Ms. Annest served as a Notes and Comments editor of the Washington Law Review. She graduated cum laude and with high honors from Dartmouth College in 2000 and was a visiting student at Oxford University. Ms. Annest is on the board of Adoptive Friends & Family of Greater Seattle (AFFGS), and contributes regularly to Adoptive Families Magazine's "Ask The Experts" column. She was named a "Rising Star" by  Washington Law and Politics Magazine  in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Ms. Annest is an adoptive parent of two, and a member of the King County and Washington State bar associations.

JOYCE S. SCHWENSEN is a sole practitioner in Seattle, where her areas of practice include adoption law, general practice, real estate and business law. Ms. Schwensen has more than 25 years of private practice experience, in addition to having been the executive director of a licensed adoption agency for 10 years. She earned her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Washington State and her J.D. degree from the University of Washington. Ms. Schwensen is a member of the Seattle-King County, Washington State and American bar associations.

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