This comprehensive guide for adoption law professionals in Illinois offers detailed, step-by-step guidance encompassing a wide range of adoption scenarios. It covers various adoption types, such as those involving same-gender parents, surrogacy, intercountry adoptions, special needs adoptions, and transracial adoptions. This resource also addresses unique situations that may arise during the adoption process, and it delves into standby, open, and closed adoptions, and provides insights into contested adoption cases and proceedings.
General Editor — Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago
Introduction — Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 1 — Basic Concepts of Adoption
Cailee J. Alderman, Kogut & Wilson LLC, Chicago
Chapter 2 — Sample Adoption Forms
Hon. Diane E. López, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago
Chapter 3 — Adoption Court Procedures — Cook County
Hon. Maureen Ward Kirby and Hon. Araceli R. De La Cruz, County Division, Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago
Chapter 4 — Court Procedures - Collar Counties and Other Parts of the State
Sheila A. Maloney, Sheila A. Maloney Attorney at Law, Downers Grove, and Robert R. Parker, Parker & Parker, Peoria
Chapter 5 — Agency Adoptions
Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 6 — Independent or Private Adoptions
Sheila A. Maloney, Sheila A. Maloney Attorney at Law, Downers Grove
Chapter 7 — Related Adoptions
Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 8 — Adoptions of Children in Care
Christina M. Schneider, Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, Office of Legal Services, Chicago
Chapter 9 — Adult Adoptions
Tiffany Arrott Horstein, Family Forward Law, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 10 — Intercountry Adoptions: Avoiding Procedural Pitfalls and Common Problems
Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Hon. Diane E. López, Circuit Court of Cook County, Kathleen M. Vannucci, Law Office of Robert D. Ahlgren and Associates, and Jane Turner, Adoption Center of Illinois, Chicago
Chapter 11 — Interstate Adoptions: Avoiding Procedural Pitfalls and Common Problems
Shelley B. Ballard, Shelley B. Ballard, P.C., Chicago and Evanston
Chapter 12 — Transracial Adoptions
Michelle M. Hughes, Law Offices of Michelle M. Hughes, P.C., Chicago
Chapter 13 — Standby Adoptions
Linda S. Coon, Linda S. Coon, Attorney at Law, Chicago
Chapter 14 — Open and Closed Adoptions
Denise J. Patton, Law Office of Denise J. Patton, Village of Lakewood
Chapter 15 — Contested Adoption Proceedings
Clarke M. Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 16 — Revocation of Parental Consents and Surrenders
Chris S. Haaff, Law Office of Christopher Haaff, Crystal Lake
Chapter 17 — Family-Building Through Genetic Surrogacy and Gestational Surrogacy Arrangements
Nidhi Desai, Desai & Miller, Chicago
Chapter 18 — The Indian Child Welfare Act
Tiffany Arrott Horstein, Family Forward Law, LLC, Chicago
Chapter 19 — Financial and Practical Issues
Judith Hannah, Law Office of Judith Hannah, Chicago
Chapter 20 — Health Problems in Adoption
Todd J. Ochs, M.D., Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago
Chapter 21 — Navigating the Modern Market for Private Adoption
Robert R. Parker, Parker & Parker, Peoria
Chapter 22 — Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act/Safe Haven Act
Genie Miller Gillespie, Gillespie Law Group, LLC, Chicago, Christina M. Schneider, Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, Office of Legal Services, Chicago, Linda S. Coon, Linda S Coon, Attorney at Law, Chicago, and Barbara J. Sereda, Adoption Advocates of America, Highland Park
