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 nonidentifying 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 make money, sometimes a lot, 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.
There is little money, if any, for lawyers or advocates who work exclusively for adult adoptee rights. The work we do may lead to greater civil and legal rights for adult adoptees. It will not lead to lucre.
Adoption attorneys must often work to balance and address all interests in the adoption “triad,” often at the expense much later of adult adoptees. While a child’s best interest is paramount in adoption, that interest often 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 highly ethical adoption attorneys out practicing in the world. It’s just that the interests represented do not often—if ever— align with lifelong interests of adoptees.
As for me, with the exception of the pro bono DACA-related work I do, I represent only adult adoptees. Because.
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