If your hopes and dreams center on bringing a child into your life through adoption, surrogacy (collaborative reproduction), or third-party assisted reproduction, the right attorney is essential to fulfilling them. As you begin considering your family-building options, you undoubtedly will have more questions than answers, and many important decisions to make. At Hinkle Law Firm LLC, we understand the lifetime implications to the decisions made in the process of growing a family but also have the sensitivity and time to guide clients through issues that extend beyond the ruling.
Understanding the Legal Challenges of Adoption, Surrogacy, and Assisted Reproduction:
Our team understands the sensitive and personal nature of adoption and assisted family building and the legal challenges that come with it. When using collaborative and third-party assisted reproduction, it is essential to not only understand the legal landscape, but to also guide you individually.
Our attorneys have the skills and knowledge to remain up to date with the laws, regulations, and standards of practices in the field of assisted reproduction to ensure the best possible outcome for their clients.
How We Can Help:
Our team at Hinkle Law Firm helps guide families through the legal processes of growing their families through adoption or third-party reproductive assistance (gestational carriers and sperm/egg/embryo donors).
If you are an expectant mother who is overwhelmed and unsure of your options, we can support you in making informed decisions. We believe strongly in honoring biological parents in the adoption journey; that starts with ensuring expectant mothers understand their legal rights and feel supported to make the adoption plan that is right for their child.
If you have questions about adoption and starting the process, whether you are an expectant mother or looking to adopt, we want to help. Connecting the right people with compatible wants and needs is essential in any family building journey. Visit adoption-kansas.com to learn more or to join our waiting list of hopeful adoptive families.
Services Provided:
Domestic Adoption:
- We handle infant adoptions from start to finish. Domestic adoptions are typically infant adoptions but can include older children. We handle agency adoptions as well as direct matches between adoptive families and the expectant mother.
- We understand the intricacies of adoption including the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, and the issues that can arise in this type of adoption.
Stepparent/Family Adoption:
- Stepparent adoptions can bring the weight of a hurtful past and the baggage that goes along with it. Nonetheless, it is crucial to secure parental rights for a minor under your care, especially in case of an emergency or the sudden death of a biological parent. We have experience in sifting through the facts to focus on the end goal and ensuring the peace of mind that accompanies a stepparent adoption.
- Grandparents and other inter-family adoptions, private CINC matters, and Guardianships are other sensitive areas that are sometimes necessary to ensure the permanency that children need. We handle these family situations with a thoughtfulness learned through our years of supporting families through difficult situations.
Contested Adoption:
- While adoption can be a joyous event to celebrate, in some cases, the adoption may proceed despite objections from one of the biological parents.
- Our attorneys do not shy away from representing parties in contested adoption cases and are well-versed in skillfully navigating these often complex and sensitive situations. Despite the stress of contested adoption matters, we provide aggressive representation to protect our client’s wishes and ensure adoption can be in the best interest of the child.
Surrogacy (collaborative reproduction) and Third-Party Assisted Reproduction:
- Experienced counsel must protect Gestational Carriers and Intended Parents throughout collaborative reproduction. We excel in drafting Carrier Agreements that clearly outline the expectations and requirements of both parties. We believe that Carrier Agreements should be just and equitable for both parties while still protecting our clients.
- Our practice has evolved alongside the exponential increase in the use of third-party assisted reproduction, and our team of attorneys has risen to the occasion to ensure our clients are well-represented in their family-building journey.
- Our attorneys help intended parents and carers understand and secure their rights using contracts that will clearly address issues such as compensation, insurance coverage, and healthcare.
Foster Care Representation:
- Our attorneys believe in the science behind Attachment Theory. We work tirelessly for foster families who want to secure permeance for the children they love and care for. In certain situations, foster families need to advocate for the best interest of the child they’re caring for, even when facing resistance from the system.
Our Experience:
At Hinkle Law Firm, our professional team brings over two decades of experience to each unique family situation. Our attorneys are responsive to client needs and concerns, maintaining direct and prompt communication. Family building is the sole practice area of our team, ensuring our attention and skill in a critical time for our client’s lives. We have a wealth of knowledge and experience in representing adoption and third-party reproduction cases and can focus on how to best represent your case.
Meet Our Team:
Megan has almost two decades of experience representing adoptive parents, biological parents, foster parents, surrogates, and donors. Megan is a fellow in the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in Family Law since 2023, which are testaments to her success and experience in the field.
Kayla is an associate attorney whose practice focuses on negotiating and drafting surrogacy agreements, prenatal actions securing prenatal rights, advocating for clients as well, and she also representing clients in foster care litigation.
Kansas is a great place for family building:
- Placing expectant mother may sign her consent twelve hours after birth.
Her consent is final upon signature. - The biological father may sign a final consent before the birth of the child.
- There is no minimum time period before finalization of an adoption.
- Pre-Birth Paternity Orders are issued for Gestational Carrier Agreements.
- Kansas law allows an expectant mother with an adoption plan to receive financial assistance during her pregnancy
