Adoptions in Georgia come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from adopting newborns to adopting adults, and from adopting your grandchild or your step-child to adopting a child without ever knowing the child’s biological parents. Given the variety of adoptions, you should find an attorney who handles adoptions regularly, and can advise you about the ins and outs of this complicated area of the law.
Curtis Kleem learned adoption law during his first year after law school, when he was a law clerk for the Whitfield and Murray County Superior Courts. One of Curtis’ responsibilities that year was to review each and every adoption petition that was filed in those two counties. Curtis made sure that every legal requirement was met for each adoption filed, whether it was a step-parent adoption, a relative adoption, an international adoption, a non-relative adoption or an adoption of a foster child after the parental rights had been terminated.
Each of these adoptions is different and has different requirements. In most adoption cases, there is no opposing party. This means that the Judge and the law clerk, and the rest of the Court staff, carefully review adoption petitions to make sure that they comply with every aspect of Georgia law. Because of this, you want your adoption attorney to know the adoption code inside and out, and to have plenty of experience representing families in adoptions. Further, in 2018, Georgia passed a new adoption law which changed the requirements for adoptions. Curtis has already filed and completed dozens of adoptions under the new law. He stands ready to serve as your lawyer for your adoption case.