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List of Forms by Chapter
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Chapter 1 — Basic Concepts of Adoption
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Chapter 2 — Sample Adoption Forms
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Chapter 3 — Adoption Court Procedures — Cook County
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Chapter 4 — Court Procedures — Collar Counties and Other Parts of the State
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Chapter 5 — Agency Adoptions
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Chapter 6 — Independent or Private Adoptions
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Chapter 7 — Related Adoptions
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Chapter 8 — Adoptions of Department of Children and Family Services Wards
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Chapter 9 — Adult Adoptions
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Chapter 10 — Intercountry Adoptions: Avoiding Procedural Pitfalls and Common Problems
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Chapter 11 — Interstate Adoptions: Avoiding Procedural Pitfalls and Common Problems
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Chapter 12 — Transracial Adoptions
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Chapter 13 — Standby Adoptions
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Chapter 14 — Open and Closed Adoptions
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Chapter 15 — Contested Adoption Proceedings
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Chapter 16 — Revocation of Parental Consents and Surrenders
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Chapter 17 — Family-Building Through Traditional Surrogacy and Gestational Surrogacy Arrangements
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Chapter 18 — Indian Child Welfare Act
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Chapter 19 — Financial and Practical Issues
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Chapter 20 — Health Problems in Adoption
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Chapter 21 — Consumer Protection in Illinois Adoption Law
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Shelley B. Ballard
Shelley B. Ballard
Shelley B. Ballard is Cofounder and Partner of Ballard, Desai & Miller, in Chicago and Highland Park. Ms. Ballard focuses her practice in adoption and reproductive technology law. Ms. Ballard is the Director of the Midwest Adoption Center; the former Director and Past Board President of the On Your Feet Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to birth parents who have placed children for adoption; and a guardian ad litem for the Adoption Court of Cook County. She serves on the Advisory Board for Leading Lawyers Network. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and a Fellow of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys. As a member of the Chicago Bar Association, she is a member of the CBA Adoption Law Committee and a Past Chair of the CBA Legislative Committee. Ms. Ballard is an adjunct professor at Loyola University College of Law in Chicago. She graduated magna cum laude from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering and cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif.
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Kirsten Crouse Bays
Kirsten Crouse Bays
Kirsten Crouse Bays, an attorney with Crouse Cobb & Bays, in Charleston, devotes her practice to adoption law. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, a member of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, and a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. Ms. Bays is also an adjunct professor of family law for Eastern Illinois University. She received her B.S. from Eastern Illinois University, her M.S. from Eastern Illinois University, and her J.D. from Washington University.
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Deborah Crouse Cobb
Deborah Crouse Cobb
Deborah Crouse Cobb is a Partner with Crouse Cobb & Bays, in Collinsville, where she concentrates her practice in adoption and assisted reproduction issues. In addition to agency and private adoptions in the United States, she has significant experience with intercountry adoptions, adoptions involving the Indian Child Welfare Act, and contested adoptions. Ms. Cobb also teaches family law courses for Eastern Illinois University. She is a member the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, and the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Ms. Cobb has spoken on adoption-related issues at several Illinois Bar Association family law seminars. She is a member of the Illinois State and Madison County Bar Associations. She received her B.A. from Eastern Illinois University, her M.S. from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois Springfield), and her J.D. from Washington University School of Law.
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Linda S. Coon
Linda S. Coon
Linda S. Coon is the Project Director of the federally funded Family Options Project of the Families’ and Children’s AIDS Network (FCAN). She is an attorney who has focused much of her work on care and custody planning for families affected by HIV and other life-threatening illnesses. The Family Options Project is a program of legal and social work services for Chicago HIV-affected families with children who are at risk of being or who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. She authored Illinois’ standby adoption law, the first such statute in the United States, and coauthored Illinois’ standby guardianship and short-term guardianship laws. Ms. Coon also serves as Project Director of FCAN’s statewide policy and advocacy programs and has written numerous articles on standby guardianship, standby adoption, and permanency planning for families affected by chronic and terminal illness. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association Committees on Adoption Law, Juvenile Law, and Probate Practice and the Illinois State Bar Association’s Child Law Section Council. She received her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
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Nidhi Desai
Nidhi Desai
Nidhi Desai of Desai & Miller, in Chicago, practices both in adoption and in the areas of gamete donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy. Ms. Desai is a member of the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and is on the Board of Directors for the Kevin J. Lederer Life Foundation. She is also a member of the American Bar Association's Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association. Ms. Desai received her law degree from Loyola University Chicago and her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
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Genie Miller Gillespie
Genie Miller Gillespie
Genie Miller Gillespie has her own practice in Chicago concentrating exclusively in adoption, guardianship, and issues relating to children and families. She is one of the attorneys appointed as guardian ad litem in adoption cases in Cook County. Ms. Gillespie was a Cofounder and former Legal Services Director for the Center for Law and Social Work, where she worked part-time until 2011. From 2006 through 2008, she was the Director of the ABA Child Custody and Adoption Pro Bono Project. She has written training materials regarding adoption law for the Chicago Bar Association; spoken at seminars and meetings concerning adoption for attorneys, agencies, and foster parents; and has been the Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Law Committee twice. Ms. Gillespie has appeared in two episodes of Illinois Law, the Illinois State Bar Association cable television show, regarding domestic and international adoptions. Prior to starting her own practice, she served as the Pro Bono Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation; was in private practice with a small firm handling domestic relations and mental health matters; and spent her first year after law school clerking for the Honorable Wendell P. Gardner, Jr., at the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, an Illinois Leading Lawyer in the area of adoption, and a member of the Chicago and American Bar Associations. Ms. Gillespie received her A.B. from Washington University and her J.D. from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.
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Susan Fox Gillis
Susan Fox Gillis
Susan Fox Gillis is an associate judge for the County Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago. She is a member of the Special Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning. Judge Gillis received the Lawyer’s Assistance Program John Powers Crowley Award, the CARPLS Golden Gavel Award, and the IIT Chicago-Kent Young Alumni Award. She received her J.D. from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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Chris S. Haaff
Chris S. Haaff
Chris S. Haaff is a sole practitioner in Crystal Lake. His family law practice focuses on divorce, adoption, paternity, custody, and surrogacy. He has spoken and written about family law for IICLE®, the Illinois State Bar Association, and other groups and publications. Mr. Haaff has served on the ISBA Family Law Section Council and other committees and councils. The ISBA named him the Young Lawyer of the Year for outside Cook County, and the McHenry County Business Journal listed him in its first list of Top Ten Business Professionals Under Age 40. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and was chosen for inclusion in Super Lawyers and the Leading Lawyers Network. Mr. Haaff received his B.A. cum laude from Greenville College and his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, for which he has chaired and actively participated in its Alumni-Student Career Conference.
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Judith Hannah
Judith Hannah
Judith Hannah of the Law Office of Judith Hannah, in Chicago, focuses her practice on family law and adoption. Ms. Hannah is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (2014 – present), a member of the Board of Directors and the Recording Secretary of the Cook County Bar Association (2013 – present), and is a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Kogan Media Awards Committee. She was accorded the Cook County Bar Association’s Presidential Award and the Centennial Presidential Award in 2015. Ms. Hannah is a member of the Chicago, Cook County, Illinois State, and American Bar Associations. She received her B.A. from Oberlin College, her M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and her J.D. from Columbia University, where she was a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow: Best Written Brief Award in First Year Moot Court Argument , a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow: Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, and received a certificate for a Private International Law Program at the Hague Academy of International Law.
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Michelle M. Hughes
Michelle M. Hughes
Michelle M. Hughes is an attorney, in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on adoption, including agency, private, international, co-parent, readoption, related, and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Law Committee (Vice Chair 2010, Chair 2011), Cochair of the Confidential Intermediary Advisory Committee for DCFS, and former Vice Chair of the Cook County Bar Association Adoption Law Committee. Ms. Hughes often speaks on adoption-related subjects in a variety of forums. She is also Cofounder of Bridge Communications, Inc., a diversity education company that conducts seminars on transracial adoption and other diversity-related issues. Ms. Hughes also served on the Board of the Association of Multiethnic Americans and Board of the Perspectives Charter School. She received her B.A. from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law.
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Jenny R. Jeltes
Jenny R. Jeltes
Jenny R. Jeltes is the owner and managing attorney of the Law Offices of J. Jeltes, Ltd., in Chicago, where she concentrates her practice on domestic relations, probate, adoption, and guardianship. Ms. Jeltes has been recognized as one of Chicago’s top-ten attorneys in client satisfaction by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys and is a board member of Rebecca’s Dream, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and compassionate understanding of mental illness. She is a member of the Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations. Ms. Jeltes graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan and earned her J.D. from Wayne State Law School.
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Richard A. Lifshitz
Richard A. Lifshitz
Richard A. Lifshitz is the Principal of the law firm of Richard A. Lifshitz LLC, in Chicago, where he practices primarily in adoption. From 1976 through 1978, he was an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Child Abuse Unit of the Juvenile Court. He has been in private practice since 1978. In adoption matters, in addition to representing traditional families, he has represented single parents and gay and lesbian couples. Mr. Lifshitz has been involved in every type of adoption and is a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. He has completed approximately 3,000 adoptions during his career. He represented the former adoptive parents in the “Baby Richard” case from 1991 through 1995. Mr. Lifshitz has been selected as an Illinois Super Lawyer repeatedly. He graduated from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri.
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Diana E. López
Diana E. López
Diana E. López has been the Owner/President of López Law Group, P.C., in Chicago, since its inception in 2010. As an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Office of the Cook County State’s Attorney, Ms. López prosecuted complex cases in juvenile court and complex child support enforcement cases (August 2001 to May 2004). She is a board member at the Center for Law Social Work and a member of the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Law Committee. Ms. López graduated from Loyola University College of Law.
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Sheila A. Maloney
Sheila A. Maloney
Sheila A. Maloney is a sole practitioner, in Downers Grove, concentrating her practice on adoption and assisted reproductive technology cases. In addition to her adoption practice, she handles residential real estate, probate, and guardianships matters. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and a Fellow of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys. Ms. Maloney is a member of the Chicago and DuPage County Bar Association. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from DePaul University and her J.D. from The John Marshall School of Law.
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Kathleen Hogan Morrison
Kathleen Hogan Morrison
Kathleen Hogan Morrison is a Chicago attorney, concentrating in adoption, assisted reproduction technology law, and parentage matters. She is a Past President of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and has served on its Board of Trustees. She has been selected by her peers to be a member of the Leading Lawyers Network and its advisory board, as well as a member of Illinois Super Lawyers. Ms. Morrison was selected as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois and she was designated an Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. She has served as Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Adoption Law Committee, was chosen as an expert witness for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for the Illinois Supreme Court, and served on the Review Committee for the Joint Council on International Children’s Services. In addition, she has represented parties in contested adoption matters, which were referred to her by lawyers, agencies, judges, and former clients. She is has been a frequent speaker and author on issues of adoption, foster parenting, permanency planning, and termination of parental rights. She is admitted to practice before the Illinois Supreme Court and all other Illinois courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
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Todd J. Ochs, M.D.
Todd J. Ochs, M.D.
Todd J. Ochs, M.D. is a general pediatrician in Chicago. He is an adoptive parent of both intercountry and special needs children. He has seen over a thousand internationally adopted children in his practice and adoption clinic, has done thousands more referral reviews, and has spoken to thousands of adoptive parents. His office also is recognized as a “Center of Excellence” by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, to see foster children for their comprehensive examinations after placement, and he is the pediatrician for an adolescent group home. He has written adoption medicine articles for several adoption publications, for the AAP Illinois Chapter Newsletter, and for the Child’sDoctor of Children’s Memorial Hospital. He spoke on international adoption at the International Pediatric Association in Beijing, in 2001; at the CAFFA and Midwest Adoption conferences; at NACAC, Joint Council; at the Child Welfare League of America; and to hundreds of adoptive parents each year at agency educational sessions. He is a Founding Member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Adoption and Foster Care and served on its Executive Committee for six years. He has advocated for adopted and fostered children with public and private schools concerning adoption health and mental health issues, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Illinois NOFAS and has spoken at several conferences and hospital grand rounds on FASD. He is the Treasurer for the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (2014 – 2016, serving his third term). He graduated from the University of New Orleans, attended medical school at Loyola University Chicago, and completed his residency at the University of Illinois (Chicago) and Cook County Hospital.
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Denise J. Patton
Denise J. Patton
Denise J. Patton is the sole practitioner at the Law Office of Denise J. Patton, in Palatine, where she devotes her practice to adoption law, surrogacy, and egg donation. Ms. Patton in the Vice Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Adoption Law Committee, a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (2002 – present), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys. She has received one of the highest scores in the country by the Avvo® rating system and has been named a Leading Lawyer. Ms. Patton earned her J.D. from DePaul Law School.
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Christina M. Schneider
Christina M. Schneider
Christina M. Schneider is Special Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Office of Legal Services, in Chicago. Her work focuses on adoption and guardianship. Ms. Schneider handles issues related to adoption and guardianship subsidies; legal screening of DCFS cases moving to adoption or guardianship; Department rules, policy, and procedures; adoption related legislation; licensure of adoption agencies and foster homes in Illinois; post-permanency disruptions; and issues regarding DCFS compliance with federal law. She oversees the DCFS Statewide Adoption Attorney Panel and legal aspects of the DCFS Confidential Intermediary Program, Putative Father Registry, and Illinois Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act. Ms. Schneider has presented at several conferences and is a frequent trainer on adoption-related issues. Ms. Schneider served as Public Policy Director of the Texas Council on Family Violence, Deputy Chief of the Women’s Advocacy Bureau for the Illinois Attorney General, and executive director of a nonprofit organization. She is a Past Chair of the Child Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association, former Vice Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Adoption Law Committee, and former Vice President of Friends of Franklin Fine Arts Center. Ms. Schneider received her B.A. from Columbia College and her J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.
Adoption Law 2016 Edition
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