Course Information
Course Description
Half of handling an adoption with excellence is determining which type of adoption it is and which part of the adoption code governs your case. In this program, Karen Stoutamyer Law, an adoption specialist, will assist you in learning how to quickly find the relevant Virginia code sections for your type of adoption. The pathways to finalization of a domestic agency, foster care, or readoption case are similar, and this course will provide a step-by-step procedural guide which will cover all three areas.
There have been important changes in adoption law in the last several years. The code has been amended to require background checks for step-parent adoptions, and the time frame for filing an expedited close relative adoption has been shortened. Caselaw has also changed the game - Knight v. Ottrix, 69 Va. App. 519 (2018) set forth an important clarification of jurisdiction in a contested direct parental placement adoption. Finally, with more and more foreign born children being adopted through Virginia courts by close relatives, unforeseen consequences can arise. This course will help you assess when to call in an immigration expert to partner with you in your domestic adoption case.
Learning Objectives:
- Review different types of adoption and relevant code sections that govern each type
- Discuss strategies to deal with non-consenting biological parents in step-parent adoptions
- Explain expedited procedures for close relative adoptions
- Assess when a home-study is required and where to file your case
- Provide step by step instructions to finalize a private agency, foster care, or foreign adoption
- Determine when to call in an immigration expert for adoption of a foreign born child
Note: This course is approved for GAL for children in Virginia. If you would like a GAL certificate, please email our Customer Support team after completing the course.
Credit Information
Faculty
Karen Stoutamyer Law
LawAdoption.com
Karen Stoutamyer Law is an adoption attorney practicing in Ashburn, Leesburg, Fairfax, Manassas, and Winchester Virginia. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1985 and became licensed in Virginia in that same year. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Virginia State Bar, and the Loudoun Chapter, Virginia Women Attorneys' Association. She was elected as an Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2013. She served on the International Operations Committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association for two years and has co-chaired the annual celebration of adoption, Loudoun Adoption Day, for eleven years.
Mrs. Law represents adoptive parents and birth parents in private, agency, international, step-parent, and relative adoptions. She has been certified by the Virginia Supreme Court as a Guardian Ad Litem to represent the interests of children in adoptions throughout the Commonwealth. She often speaks at national conferences on intercountry adoption and has visited orphanages all over the world.
Reviews
So glad she went over the Hague adoption procedures - I had no idea.
She was a great speaker.
A very informative and animated discussion of a frequently somewhat dry subject. Overall, I was very impressed!
Excellent presentation. Karen knows her stuff.
Excellent presenter. Very clear and organized! Nice overview.
Knowledgeable presenter and good supporting documents.
Very good presentation.
Very well done.
Excellent
Excellent presenter