Can Adoption Be Only a Swipe Away?

By Sheryl Rentz on July 25, 2017

These days you can get almost anything on your phone. With just a tap on a screen, you can get food, buy a refrigerator, or send whatever your heart desires right to your doorstep. With each day, more items get added to the list.

Recently, a company named Adoptly tried applying this concept to adoption. The app functions like Tinder, a popular dating app. The app’s goal is to find the perfect child for those who are interesting in adopting. You can swipe right if you like the child or you can swipe left if you don’t.

Besides the casual heartlessness of the method, unfortunately for this company, the app didn’t gain enough momentum to materialize. Adoption is much more complicated than simply swiping away. What would happen after a swipe to the right? How are you connected to the child and the parents? What are your rights? These are issues best fit for a local attorney and not your phone.

Termination of Parental Rights

Before a child can be adopted, the original parents must terminate their parental rights. This may not always be their choice. Termination is not easy and there’s even time to appeal termination, if the parents wish. The appeal process and deadlines vary statewide. Because of this, it is important to work with a local attorney.

Open Adoption and International Cases

In open adoptions, the original parents of a child may seek to maintain contact with their child and an adopted family. On both sides of these cases, emotions can run high. With plenty of paperwork to file, the process can be quite tedious as well.

International adoption also attracts prospective parents. While celebrities and movies make this process seem easy, it’s not. Each country, and each United States jurisdiction, has different standards for adoption. An attorney can help you procure the essential forms and visas, and prevent delays and fraud.

Talk to an Adoption Lawyer

As you can see, adoption is more complicated than just swiping right. It’s easy to see how an app like Adoptly fails to do it justice. Technology can help with many things, but there are legal aspects to adoption that a phone simply can’t handle.

If you are interested in adoption, contact the Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz, P.C., at (610) 645-0100. We will listen to your unique situation in a free initial consultation.