Will’s Adoption Continues

We had talked with our birthmother before we ever left for Kansas… but after meeting with her, we knew that she was one that we would enjoy working with. God confirmed our initial feelings when we prayed to Him about Will’s adoption.   This adoption was the easiest one of all... and the reason has to do with God being in control from day one. 

The adoption in Kansas was different and quicker than either a California or Louisiana adoption. For one thing, the birth mother signs after 12 hours ... this means that you become the legal guardians at that point in time.  And she cannot change her mind as her rights are severed at that time.  And you get to take your baby home (unless you are from out of state… then you have to wait for the ICP which usually takes four business days depending upon your home state).   We did insist that the paperwork not be presented to our birthmother until she had the drugs from the c-section out of her system as we felt that morally presenting them before she was of clear mind would not be right. 

Another difference is that the adoption finalizes after 30 days.   This means that you have one more visit from the home study social worker during that time. And one more trip to Kansas for the court hearing.  This was an over night trip and took about 2 hours in court ( the drive was 11 plus hours due to baby Will not being able to be in the carrier for more than 2 hours without a 30 minute break... due to his head issues (as this was pre-cranial helmet and pre-full diagnoses as to what was wrong and we & our doctor was erring on the side of caution) ... and then we had   1 and 1/2  hours of waiting for our docket to be called and 30 minutes in court.   We did have to wait 2 to 4 days for the ICP but that is standard. (this was during the initial trip).  

Also, we did not have the extra expense of a Louisiana Attorney.  The Kansas attorney handled everything. In the prior adoption, we had to have two Louisiana Attorneys and one California Attorney.   And we received the final birth certificate in 60 days. It was funny in that we had Will’s adoption finalized along with the birth certificate four months before we got Cole’s birth certificate from California.

Overall, Kansas is very supportive of adoption and adoptive parents… I do have to say, that I feel the birth mother is not considered enough and a longer time than 12 hours and more counseling should be done.  One of difficulties of interstate adoptions is that you have to choose which State’s laws, the adoption will follow as there are No federal guidelines or Uniform Codes that cover adoptions.  This can be very confusing and the help of an accredited Adoption attorney is key to not violating anyone’s rights, any laws, or jeopardizing the finalization of your adoption.