Guardianships and Adoptions

So what is the difference between guardianships and adoptions? Just think of adoptions are permanent guardianships. Also, let it be know that adoptions are a lot more time and money.

Often a family member or friend of a child will contact me to tell me that they are seeking “custody” of that child. Be it known that, in most instances, only a parent has legal custody of a child. A GUARDIANSHIP is not technically the same thing as custody, and the Judge who hears your guardianship case and a particularly county is usually not the same Judge who would hear a case where natural parents might fight for custody of the same child, unless such Court is in a small, unpopulated county with few Judges to hear cases. In my experience, the common scenario for a guardianship is this: Someone became a mother at a young age; the father is nowhere to be found and is uninvolved in the child’s life; the custodial parent is on drugs, rarely works, and moves around frequently. In some way it either apparent that, or the natural parent agrees through consent that, they are at this time unfit and inappropriate to raise this child.

Guardianships are “temporary” by nature. You can obtain a final guardianship Order, and a few years later, after the natural parent has the chance to prove they have bettered themselves and are not in the same situation that led to the guardianship occurring, such guardianship may be terminated upon motion by the natural parent. However, especially where older, teenage children, I have found in my experience that most guardianship orders, once in place, remain in effect through the child reaching adulthood. Still, unless both natural parents rights have been terminated and a formal legal ADOPTION has occurred, there is always the possibility that a natural parent will take legal action and successfully terminate the guardianship by proving that they are no longer unstable and/or irresponsible, or that they never were so but simply agreed to the guardianship out of convenience (e.g., went off to college and left child with grandparents to make it easier on everyone).

I have handled and continue to handle several guardianship cases for upfront retainers ranging from $700 to $900. I have helped family members and friends obtain guardianship of a child they believed was in a bad situation. On the other side of the fence, I have fought for natural parents who believed, along with me, that they were not unfit but were well able to raise their own child, defending against initial guardianship actions and terminating existing guardianship orders.

As for adoptions, these are more tedious. In these kinds of cases, unless a stepparent is adopting, both natural parents' rights must be terminating. If a stepparent is adopting, then only the non-custodial, other natural parent's right must be terminated. Adoptions are more work because of the service requirements in terminating the parents' rights. Unless a parent signs a waiver, he or she must be served with notice of a hearing on an application to enter an adoption order without consent of that parent and then served again with a notice of a final or "best interests" hearing. That is a lot of serving on someone who may be trying hard not to be served or found, or who you might not even know where they are. Also, rather than a background check like a guardianship, an adoption involves multiple background checks by multiple agencies. These take time and cost money. If certain forms and procedures are not implemented and followed precisely, an adoption may drag on and on and possibly falter. Make sure you hire an attorney to do your stepparent or other private adoption.

My name is Joel K. Mitchell. I am a Tulsa guardianship attorney and Tulsa adoption attorney who handles not only guardianships and adoptions, but also other family law cases involving divorce, support, child custody and visitation cases. I have offices in Collinsville and in downtown Tulsa. I practice not only in Tulsa County, but also in the counties of Tulsa, Wagoner, Muskogee, Rogers, Mayes, Nowata, Osage, Washington, Creek, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, and Pawnee, all District Courts. My clients come from not only Tulsa and Broken Arrow, but also towns like Talala, Claremore, Cleveland, Collinsville, Owasso, Okmulgee, Inola, Skiatook, Sperry, Sapulpa, Wagoner, Muskogee, Pryor, and Pawnee.