Did you know that under Pennsylvania law a child can only have one legal mother and father at any given time? This often becomes an issue when a child’s biological parents end their relationship with one another and one of the biological parents marries a different person. Many times a biological parent and their new spouse desire to make their family complete by having the new spouse adopt the child. This raises significant legal issues due to the fact that the child already has two “legal parents.” An adoption in such a situation can only happen if there is a termination of parental rights of one of the “legal parents” so that the new spouse can take over the role of “legal parent”. At the Law Offices of Matthew R. Kessler, L.L.C. we will guide you through complex adoption issues such as the one described above.
Another consideration pertaining to adoption relates to who is responsible for supporting a minor child. Through the process of adoption, an adoptive parent gains all of the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the minor child’s natural biological parent. This means that following an adoption, the adoptive parent will have the right to make important decisions pertaining to the minor child dealing with subjects such as religion, medical treatment, education and other issues relating to the child’s upbringing. Similarly, an adopted child gains the rights, responsibilities and obligations of a natural child of the adoptive parent. Therefore, the adopted child would be entitled to inherit from the adoptive parent as a natural child and the adopted child may request and collect child support from the adoptive parent if that parent does not properly support the child.
To learn more about adoption and how we can assist you in completing the adoption process, contact our office at 610-385-1090.