Adoption Legal Answers

My husband and I adopted a son and he is now 12 years old. He has been asking about his biological family, especially his mother and father. We have told him everything we know about them, which is very little. We live in Los Angeles, under California law does he have the right to get information about his biological family? We want to support him in this and believe that at the very least, it would be good for him to know his medical history. If he is allowed to obtain this information, how do we go about helping him get it? Does his age matter such that if he can’t obtain it now, could he access it when he turns 18 or 21?

We are working with an adoption agency in Oklahoma City and they have located an infant for us to potentially adopt. The birth mother says she will not consent to the adoption unless she has a written agreement from us that we will allow her some contact with the baby after the adoption is finalized. She would like a couple of visits each year and possibly more as the child gets older. She also wants us to provide her with updates on the child, including things like school report cards and photographs. We are not completely opposed to this but we don’t know what the Oklahoma law says about this type of an agreement. Are we legally able to enter into a visitation type of contract with the birth mother? If we are, what should be included in the contract?

My wife and I very much want a child and have been unable to have any. We are both Polish and have decided to adopt a child from an orphanage in Poland. We need to understand the U.S. laws and the Polish laws relating to this adoption. First, do we need to do an adoption in both the United States and in Poland? Second, how do we obtain the services of an attorney who is experienced in both U.S and Polish law? We want to make sure that we are fulfilling all the necessary requirements and that the adoption goes through as quickly as possible.