Many believe that Putin signed the law banning Americans from adopting Russian children in what was widely viewed as a retaliatory measure against U.S. passage of the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act imposes a visa ban and financial sanctions on Russian officials accused of human rights violations. It is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption lawyer who died in jail in 2009, after alleging officials were involved in a multi-million-dollar tax scam.

But what happens now? Many prospective adoptive parents who were in the middle of the process of adopting a Russian child have been left in despair because the original signature of the law prevents these adoptions from completion. However, recent talks indicate that Putin may back off on his U.S. adoption ban. We have our fingers crossed! For more information about the ban on Russian adoptions please click here.

The film examines this family’s good intentions, the struggles they faced after the adoption and the effect that this drastic change had on the children.

The documentary, called “High Five: A Suburban Adoption Saga” screened last week at the Vancouver Fim Festival and hopefully will appear in the United States soon.

ICWA is sometimes a dreaded term  in the adoption profession. The acronym for Indian Child Welfare Act is a subject of frequent discussion in adoption and foster care circles.  In balancing the weight of the rights that ICWA protects with the additional paperwork it creates, the scale is emphatically tipped towards the former.

Take, for example, Jonathan Brooks, a Native American adoptee- Brooks was one of many adoptees taken from a reservation in the 1950′s with little information about tracing his roots.  Later in life, curiosity led him to the reservation he was originally from. The experience of tracing his roots is now articulated in a book that was recently published, and Brooks hopes that his story (and life coaching business that stemmed from it) can help other Native American adoptees cope.

Fortunately, ICWA and other notice requirements have been enacted since the time of Brooks’s adoption. These requirements serve as an important safeguard and it behooves adoption professionals to abide by them.

People are always saying that a second parent adoption or domestic partner adoption is needed for same-sex parents to protect their and their child’s rights- but why?

In California it is perfectly acceptable for a birth certificate to have the names of a same sex couple on it, but the general consensus remains that it is imperative for gay and lesbian parents to do a second-parent adoption or domestic partner adoption (if they are registered domestic partners) to protect their, and their child’s rights.

This is because some states refuse to recognize same-sex parents. If a family happens to be traveling in one of these states and an emergency arises, the non-birthparent (whether on the child’s birth certificate or not) can be denied fundamental parental rights such as making medical decisions or deciding other emergency issues.

Fortunately, the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution requires states to obey and respect decrees from other State courts.  A birth certificate is not equivalent to a court decree, however, a second parent adoption order is. The adoption orders that both parents are the legal parents of the child at issue. Thus, a same sex couple in a state that does not recognize same-sex parents, but has completed a second parent adoption, can exercise the same rights and make the same decisions with respect to their child.

If you would like more information about second parent adoption or domestic partner adoption, call for a free consultation at (415) 200-3600.

Whether you love his music or you hate it, there is no denying that Skrillex is one of the world’s most successful DJ’s- remixing top charting artists like Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars at music festivals like Coachella and San Francisco’s Outside Lands. It turns out that his musical career began to take off when he discovered he was adopted:

“I discovered I was adopted when I was 16. But not only that, I found out that everyone – my parents’ friends, my own friends, my friends’ parents, everyone – had known except me. I’ve made up with my parents now, but I wasn’t too happy at the time.”

Many children who find out that they are adopted later in life feel resentment towards their family and betrayal as a result of not being “in” on a secret.  Open adoption circumvents this issue by teaching children about their birth story from a very young age. Knowing one’s birth story has proven to improve adoptees’ self-image and strengthen their own identity.  We are glad to see that Skryllex has overcome these challenges and wish him the best as he pursues his career!