Time to Hire an Adoption Attorney?
You have come to the right place! Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. has been handling adoptions in Indiana since 1984 and handles foster care/DCS adoptions from every county in Indiana.
If you have custody of a child as a foster parent or a child has been placed with you by the Department of Children Services, we can help you understand the process of adopting the child and, perhaps, even obtaining an adoption subsidy.
We are happy to speak with you by telephone, without cost or obligation, to answer questions about your particular situation.
Please explore the resources on this page and throughout our website. When you’re ready, click here to get this exciting process started.
Adoption attorney Grant Kirsh handles all of our foster care adoptions and is recognized as a leader in foster care adoptions in Indiana.
Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C. will assist you with the following in your foster care/DCS adoption:
- Filing and finalizing your adoption
- Negotiating adoption subsidies
- Name change for the child(ren)
- Provide instruction to obtain new social security cards with names and new numbers for the child(ren)
- Issuance of new birth certificates with new names and your names for the child(ren)
Grant is happy to speak with you by telephone, without cost or obligation, to answer questions about your particular situation. Please either call Grant at 317-575-5555 or click here so that Grant can reach out to you.
5 Step Process
Permanency Plan
The permanency plan in the CHINS case is change to adoption or a concurrent plan including adoption.
Hire an Adoption Attorney & File Your Petition
Contact Kirsh & Kirsh to handle all filings, paperwork, and subsidy negotiations.
DCS Applies for Adoption Subsidies
Your Family Case Manager from DCS will provide you with an adoption subsidy application, along with other related documents and ask you to get fingerprinted for the adoption. This all can happen as soon as DCS files their petition to terminate parental rights.
Parental Rights Are Terminated
The Indiana court formally terminates biological parents' rights, or the parents consent to the adoption, making the child legally free for adoption. Remember, just because the parents might fight the TPR case does not mean you are in a contested adoption.
Finalization Hearing - It's Official!
The judge grants the adoption; new birth certificate, Social Security card, and name change follow. DCS immediately closes their CHINS case.
Adoption Subsidy
Adoption subsidies are available to foster parents who adopt a child from DCS custody in Indiana. With very few exceptions, all children in the foster care system qualify. A child no longer needs to be 2-years or older to qualify for adoption subsidies. The process begins when your Family Case Manager provides you with a subsidy application and fingerprint instructions for everyone that is 18-years or older in your home. This can happen as soon as DCS files their petition to terminate parental rights. DCS policy states they can apply for adoption subsidies as soon as the petition to terminate has been filed. They do not need to wait until the TPR order is issued. The subsidy agreement includes: (1) monthly recurring financial assistance, (2) continued Medicaid coverage for the child, and (3) $2,000 to be paid to the adoption attorney to help cover legal fees for the adoption. This agreement must be negotiated and signed before the adoption is finalized. Once finalized, if the agreement is not signed by both the adoptive parents and DCS, then subsidies are waived and you are not able to get them later. The adoptive parents can go back to DCS once every 12 months an request an increase in their recurring subsidy amount.
FAQs
The timeline varies, but once parental rights are terminated, most Indiana foster care adoptions are finalized within 3 to 6 months. The longest part of the process is typically the TPR proceedings and securing adoption subsidies, which are handled by DCS and the courts. That process can take a year or more before an adoption attorney is even involved.
With very few exceptions, all children in Indiana’s foster care system qualify for adoption subsidies. A child no longer needs to be 2 years or older to qualify. The subsidy agreement includes monthly financial assistance, continued Medicaid coverage for the child, and $2,000 toward legal fees. This agreement must be negotiated and signed before the adoption is finalized. If an adoption is finalized without a signed subsidy agreement, subsidies are permanently waived.
Not always. In a foster care adoption, biological parents’ rights are either voluntarily relinquished, by signing a consent to adoption or consent to voluntary termination or involuntarily terminated by an Indiana court through a TPR (Termination of Parental Rights) proceeding. If the parents contest the TPR, that does not mean the adoption itself is contested. The adoptive family is typically not a party to the TPR case at all.
Yes. Kirsh & Kirsh handles foster care and DCS adoptions from every county in Indiana. No matter where your CHINS case is pending, whether in Marion County, Lake County, Allen County, or any of Indiana’s 92 counties, attorney Grant Kirsh available to guide you through the entire adoption process.
Indiana Code § 31-19-2-2 outlines where a petition for adoption may be filed. It states, in part, that a petition for adoption for a minor child may be filed in either: (1) the county in which the petitioner (prospective adoptive parent or parents) reside; or (2) the county in which the licensed child placing agency or governmental agency having custody of the child is located; or (3) the county in which the adoption attorney maintains an office; or (4) the county in which the child resides.
We will discuss with you the pros and cons of where to file and let you decide where to file your petition for adoption. Most clients we work with specifically do not want to file their petition for adoption in the county the CHINS or TPR case is pending because the judge in that county may not have treated the foster parents very well. For foster parents hoping to adopt, they want their adoption day to be a special and memorable experience. If the judge that handled the CHINS and/or termination case was less than pleasant, then most choose not to spend their special adoption day with that same judge and choose to file in a different county.
Yes. After your foster care adoption is finalized, Kirsh & Kirsh will assist you in obtaining a new Indiana birth certificate listing you as the child’s legal parents. If you choose to change the child’s name as part of the adoption, the new birth certificate will reflect that name as well.
Contact Us
"*" indicates required fields