Biological parent rights and reunification efforts

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Biological parent rights and reunification efforts

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When you adopt a child before you can assume the parental rights, the biological rights of the parents need to be severed, either by the biological parent voluntarily severing those rights or the court stepping in and severing them. And DCFS, the Department of Child and Family Services, will initiate this process. But first of all, they have to provide some reunification services and they're mandated to look for a biological family. So when that child is placed with you and those biological rights have not been severed, you're actually a foster parent, and that's a fost-adopt situation. And the agency has to let you know what the risks are of that child being removed from your home and being placed with a biological family member. These laws inter that governing the biological rights, they vary from state to state, but in L.A. county typically it takes about 12 - 18 months while the county provides some reunification services and looks for biological parents until they determine that those biological rights can be severed.

View Kathy Gordon's video on Biological parent rights and reunification efforts...

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Kathy Gordon

Parent Educator

Kathy Gordon is the single adoptive mother of a very spirited nine year-old boy, but was not prepared for the challenges of parenting a child whose brain was developed under stress. When her son was three, Kathy had the good fortune of taking parenting classes with Ruth Beaglehole, founding Director of the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting, (theechocenter.org), and she realized this powerful compassionate method of working with children was something she wanted to teach. She has been a teacher, director and coach most of her adult life. Kathy was certified as a Parent Educator through the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting in May of 2008, and will now continue her training by becoming a Certified Hand-in-Hand Parenting Parent Educator. Kathy works with families individually, teaches parenting classes and facilitates trainings for educators and schools communities. Her practice is called Unconditional Connection because we all long for connection, and we long to be unconditionally loved. We live in a society in which we are continually judged by our behavior. Kathy offers research-based information and tools to help people look underneath and beyond the behavior, so that we may be more unconditionally connected thus creating a world of cooperation and peace. 

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