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New Adoption Laws
Bypass Agencies
JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER
S
outhfield attorney Amy
Peterman began 1995
practicing law in an area
that was off limits to
lawyers until this year.
A family and corporate attor-
ney for seven years, Ms. Peter-
man will now devote much of her
practice to facilitating adoptions.
She and other attorneys were
barred from this domain until
Jan. 1, when a comprehensive
overhaul of the state's adoption
laws took effect.
The biggest change in the
adoption code is the authoriza-
tion of direct-placement adop-
tions, where the birth parent can
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Find It All In
The Jewish News
Classifieds
Call 354-5959
select the adoptive parent in-
stead of first releasing the child
to an agency. New laws permit
attorneys to facilitate direct-
placement adoptions and allow
the birth parent and adoptive
parent to agree to varying de-
grees of contact.
"A lot of Michigan families
were leaving the state to adopt,"
said state Rep. David Gubow, a
Huntington Woods Democrat
who introduced several of the
adoption bills. "Birth parents
also left because they wanted to
have a say in who adopted their
children. Under the old system
it was the agencies that had pri-
mary responsibility in selecting
the adoptive families. The new
system changes that. We creat-
ed a dual track, allowing birth
parents and adoptive parents to
choose to go through a closed
adoption system or allowing
them to maintain any degree of
openness."
Many believe the new laws
should make it easier for Jews
to adopt.
"Now, Jewish infertile couples
can network with other Jews in
Michigan and around the coun-
try and be able to choose their
own birth parents -- something
never allowed before," said Ms.
Peterman, who expects to see
announcements similar to a re-
cent Jewish News classified ad-
vertisement. The ad read:
"Physician and full-time mom in
Chicago hoping to adopt a Jew-
ish infant to complete their Jew-
ish family."
An attorney must complete 12
hours of education on the legal
and social aspects of adop-
tion, maintain a referral
file for counseling services
and register as an adoption
attorney before acting as a
facilitator. Lawyers are
prohibited from providing
legal services to both the
birth parent and the adop-
tive parent. Court approval
of attorney fees is mandat-
ed by the new laws.
Before a placement can
occur, the birth parent
must be given detailed in-
formation about the
prospective adoptive par-
ents. This information
comes from a preplacement
assessment or home study.
An attorney cannot per-
form the home study; it
must be conducted by a
child placement agency.
For Esther Krystal, the
coordinator of adoption
and foster care at Jewish
Family Service, the new laws
could change the focus of ser-
vices which haire been provid-
ed by JFS for the past 60 years.
Ms. Krystal said the agency
may conduct the home studies
for attorneys. In recent weeks,
she has received an increase in
requests for such preplacement
assessments.
"A lot of Michigan
families were
leaving the
state to adopt."
— David Gubow
The new legislation also per-
mits both adoptees and birth
parents to petition the Probate
Court to appoint a "confidential
intermediary" to search the offi-
cial records, contact birth-fam-
ily members and ask if they are