Adoptions in Colorado is an area particularly enjoyed by the attorneys at the Marrison Law Firm in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  We also serve Pueblo County, Douglas County, Fremont County, and Teller County. Colorado is one of five states that do not allow private adoptions. Adoptions are done through an adoption agency. This does not mean that you do not need an adoption lawyer. We at the Marrison Law Firm in Colorado Springs have experienced adoption attorneys who can help you with your adoption. The adoption agency does the home study, and evaluates the adopting parent for approval by the Adoption Court. Here, at the Marrison Law Firm, our adoption attorneys can assist you in finding an appropriate agency to do your home study in a Colorado adoption, and to represent you in the adoption proceeding in the El Paso County Court, or the Court in Teller, Douglas, Pueblo or Fremont countys. Generally, a Colorado adoption involves two aspects, the termination of the birth parent's relationship with the child, either by a voluntary process called relinquishment, or by a formal termination proceeding against the birth parents. The second part of the adoption is the adoption itself, by the adopting parents. In Colorado, the adoption may not be filed until the child is born. Alternative forms of adoptions are kinship adoptions, Step-parent adoptions and custodial adoptions. Kinship adoptions are those in which a family member seeks to adopt, either an aunt, uncle, brother, sister, or grandparent. Custodial adoptions are adoptions by persons with whom a child has resided for one year or more, or where the adoptive parents have legal custody or guardianship of a child. To be available for adoption,the child must have a birth parent who has consented to the adoption, or whose parental rights have been terminated either through a petition in dependency and neglect, or due to abandonment. A child is deemed to have been abandoned by a parent who has not had reasonable contact with the child for one year or more, or who has, without cause, failed to pay "any reasonable support" for a period of one year or more. Call our law firm for adoption help. The Marrison Law Firm has experienced compassionate adoption attorneys who can make the road easier in Colorado Springs.