I am NOT an Adoption Attorney

I am not an adoption attorney. I am an adoptee-rights lawyer. Big difference.

An adoption attorney often, but not always, represents adoptive parents in facilitating and securing adoptions. An adoptee-rights lawyer works to secure civil and legal rights for adult adoptees, whether it is access to an original birth certificate, challenging laws that are used to deny access to identifying or non-identifying information, or working to secure US citizenship for intercountry adult adoptees. Or any other legal issues affecting adult adoptees.

Here are some differences between an adoption attorney and an adoptee-rights lawyer. Consider this my semi-manifesto as well as something to build on:

Adoption attorneys can make a lot of money representing adoptive parents in domestic or intercountry adoptions. Attorney fees may approach $10,000, if not more. Securing adoptions, for some, is a lucrative and financially-driven venture within a vast industry as adoption.

There is little money, if any, for lawyers or advocates who work exclusively for adult adopted people and their rights. The work we do may lead to greater civil and legal rights for adult adoptees. But it will not lead to wealth, nor much money at all.

Adoption attorneys typically represent adoptive parents and say that they address all interests in the adoption “triad,” but often at the expense then or much later of adoptees. While a child’s best interest is paramount in adoption, that interest typically does not extend beyond childhood.

An adoptee-rights lawyer works exclusively for the adoptee and advocates only for an adult adoptee’s rights and interests. There should be no conflict of interest, no balancing of harms. There is only one interest when you are an adoptee-rights lawyer or advocate.

Adoption attorneys dominate the public discourse on adoption and are one of the primary voices in bar association groups on the issue of adoption and, to a much lesser extent, adoptees.

Adoptee-rights lawyers and advocates are often not heard by nor participants in bar association groups that consider, recommend, and advance laws and policies affecting adoptees. That must change.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no doubt there are plenty of fair-minded and ethical adoption attorneys out practicing in the world. It’s just that the interests represented do not often—if ever— align with the lifelong interests of adopted people.

As for me, with the exception of some DACA-related work I do, I represent only adult adopted people. Because.

I am an adoptee-rights lawyer. Why not join me?