Family Law Overview

Understanding the Termination of Parental Rights

The termination of parental rights can be a difficult process for all parties involved. Parents, grandparents, and families have strong ties that sometimes must change in order to work with Colorado adoption law. At the Colorado Springs offices of the Marrison Law Firm, we want to help you do what is best for your children, stepchildren, or grandchildren.

Whether you are considering giving up your parental rights or you seek to terminate a biological parent's rights to facilitate an adoption, this process will have a major affect on the children involved. If you contact a parental rights and adoption lawyer at the Marrison Law Firm, our attorneys can help you understand how the termination of parental rights will affect the children and your family.

Putting the Needs of Children First

Voluntary Terminations: In all cases when one party is relinquishing parental rights, we make sure that all people involved put the interests of the children involved first. We do not advocate for a process that will put a child in foster care, even for a short amount of time. Working with fathers and mothers, we handle cases involving the voluntary termination of parental rights.

Involuntary Terminations: Our firm also handles cases involving the involuntary termination of parental rights. If the non-custodial parent has failed to make child support payments or failed to maintain contact with their children for over a year, they could lose their parental rights. In these cases, the children in question may be eligible for adoption without the biological parent voluntarily ceding their parental rights. In other cases, parental rights may be terminated because of long-term neglect, serious abuse and other factors.

Adoption and the Termination of Parental Rights

In order for an adoption to take place in Colorado, there must be a relinquishment of the birth parents' rights. After that, an adoption is free to take place. In the case of a stepparent adoption, the non-custodial biological parent must give up his or her parental rights before a stepparent adoption can be completed.

The majority of adoptions that we handle occur within families. In addition to step-parent adoptions, we also handle grandparent adoptions. Grandparents, who have been a part of their grandchild's life more than the parents, also have the option of establishing certain visitation and custody rights instead of adopting. We will guide you through the whole process, including the termination and establishment of parental rights.

Contact a Colorado Springs family law attorney for an initial consultation.

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