Growing your family through adoption requires courage, patience, and trust—and we believe it should also be a process marked by competency, compassion, authenticity, integrity, innovation, and action. At Jess Couser Family Law, we are proud to stand for those values.
Adoption has impacted the lives of many on our team, both personally and professionally. When you work with Jess Couser Family Law, you’re not just working with experienced legal professionals — you’re gaining allies and advocates who truly understand. In many ways, it’s no different for us as your Salt Lake City adoption attorneys.
How Adoption Works in Utah
The process of adoption legally establishes someone as a child’s parent. An adoptive parent—whether an individual or a couple—assumes all rights and responsibilities associated with raising and caring for the child, in exchange for a lifelong connection with the child.
When an adoption is finalized, the adoptive parent’s rights are legally the same as if the child were biologically his or her own. Adoption is an opportunity to grow your family, but the journey can sometimes feel confusing and isolating.
Let us be the guide who walks alongside you on that journey, every step of the way.
Each Salt Lake City adoption attorney at our firm is guided by knowledge, innovation, and a genuine, heartfelt concern for the clients we serve. We have represented families throughout Utah in even the most challenging adoption situations, helping them reach their goal of growing their families with confidence and peace of mind.
Types of Adoption
There are different paths to adoption depending on your family’s unique situation, goals, and needs. We have experience with all forms of domestic adoption, so we can help you determine which process makes the most sense for you.
Private Domestic Adoption
This route involves adopting a child, often a newborn, through a licensed agency or private agreement with the birth parents. These adoptions can be either open or closed, based on whether the adoptive family and the birth parents choose to have contact after placement. Private domestic adoptions offer families a significant degree of control over the process. Still, they also come with important legal and emotional considerations for all parties involved.
We treat every case and person involved in an adoption with the integrity and authenticity they deserve, and we are committed to ensuring that both birth parents and adoptive parents make informed decisions and are prepared to deal with what’s to come.
Foster Care Adoption
Foster care adoption offers a chance for a loving family to provide a permanent home for a child in need of one. The child may be older, part of a sibling group, or even a baby, but he or she will likely be in the state’s custody due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or similar reasons.
For our clients, we provide clear and complete guidance through the finalization of the foster journey by adoption. By the time we appear, most aspects of the process, including licensing and training, home studies, background checks, and more have already been completed through the foster process. But we will confirm that all the T’s have been crossed and I’s dotted, and be there to help finalize the adoption and ensure the permanency that your child(ren) deserve. We approach these cases with compassion and the shared belief that every child deserves a loving home where they feel safe, valued, and cared for.
Stepparent Adoption
When two individuals with children from past relationships decide to get married, they create a dynamic and strong blended family. Ultimately, the only thing that’s missing is the legal parent-child connection.
This is where stepparent adoption comes in. The process may be more straightforward than other types of adoption, but it does require notice to be sent to the child’s existing legal parent. Once that parent receives proper notice, they may consent to the adoption, object to the adoption, or refrain from responding at all. In most cases, if they fail to respond, their rights are forfeited and the adoption may proceed.
We support our clients in making the stepparent-child relationship official with thoughtful legal strategies designed to reflect the strength and importance of the family unit.
Relative or Kinship Adoption
Kinship adoption is a way to legally formalize a parent/child relationship for a family member who has stepped into the role of parent. Some of the standard adoption requirements are waived or simplified in these adoptions.
Second Parent Adoption in Utah
When a child is born into a same-sex marriage, both spouses are recognized as legal parents under Utah law. However, because parentage laws vary across states, and because federal protections for LGBTQIA+ families continue to evolve, our firm strongly recommends completing a Second Parent Adoption to ensure your parental rights are fully protected everywhere.
A Second Parent Adoption allows the non-biological parent in a same-sex marriage to formally adopt their child without terminating the other parent’s rights. This process creates a court order that confirms both parents’ legal relationship with the child, providing security and permanency for your family.
Although Utah law recognizes both spouses as parents when a child is born into a marriage, this recognition may not carry the same weight in other states or in federal proceedings. A court-issued adoption decree offers the strongest and most universally recognized protection of your parental rights, even in the face of future political or legal changes.
At Jess Couser Family Law, we are deeply committed to protecting LGBTQIA+ families. Our team will guide you through each step of the Second Parent Adoption process, from preparing necessary documents to appearing in court, ensuring the experience is smooth, affirming, and respectful.
You’ve already built your family with love. We’ll make sure the law protects it with the same strength.
Utah’s Adoption Process
Every journey is different, and there are several potential paths to take toward adoption in Utah. Each type of adoption has its own series of steps, but in general, these are the stages involved:
Eligibility
In Utah, to adopt, you must:
- Be at least 21 years old
- Be at least 10 years older than the child you wish to adopt, except in cases involving stepparent adoptions
- Have the financial and emotional stability to provide a child with a safe and supportive home
- Pass a criminal background check
- Clear the state’s child abuse registry
Home Study (if required)
Your home study will be conducted by a social worker or licensed adoption agency as part of the home study process. It involves:
- A criminal background check
- Interviews with other people living in your home
- Financial review and assessment of your parenting philosophy
- Physical inspection of the home
This step may feel invasive, but it’s an important step and helps ensure that you are fully prepared for this adoption journey and the next chapter in your life. Jess Couser Family Law makes it less mysterious so you can confidently move through the process.
Termination of Parental Rights
In some cases, it’s necessary to formally terminate a parent’s rights in order to facilitate an adoption. This is typically done in a trial setting, with witnesses and experts testifying as to the basis for the termination, such as parental unfitness, neglect, abandonment, or other grounds.
We know and understand that this is a difficult stage of the process for many of our clients, but we handle it with integrity and competency, always keeping the best interests of the child in mind.
Finalization
The final step is for us to file an adoption petition in court, and our attorneys will present your case to a judge to complete the legal formalities. The judge, upon granting the petition, will enter a final decree of adoption, and a new birth certificate will be issued.
Contested Adoptions in Utah
An adoption can be contested if a biological parent refuses to consent to it or tries to later claim that he or she was coerced into signing away his or her parental rights. Jess Couser Family Law believes in action, and we act promptly and purposefully to resolve these problems in a court of law or through settlement. Our attorneys have successfully tried and litigated complex contested adoption cases involving:
- Arguments that a biological parent was inadequately informed about the adoption
- Attempts to retain custody or at least visitation
- Claims that consent was signed under duress or as a result of fraud
Why Clients Choose Jess Couser Family Law for Their Adoption Needs
We treat every client with care and respect, as if they were an extended member of our team. In our experience, these are the most important qualities to look for in an adoption lawyer:
- Competency: Decades of experience handling every type of adoption case
- Compassion: A team that genuinely cares and has personally been through the process
- Authenticity: Honest, transparent guidance every step of the way
- Integrity: A commitment to do what’s right, even when it’s difficult
- Innovation: Creative legal solutions designed for your unique situation
- Action: Prompt, proactive legal support when it matters most
Growing Your Family in Utah
If you’re ready to grow your family through adoption, the attorneys of Jess Couser Family Law are here to help. With an office in downtown Salt Lake City, we serve clients all over Utah, and our attorneys have appeared in nearly every court in the state. Give us a call at 385-217-7200 or connect with us online to learn more.