Adoption is one of the few court cases that ends in something good. We handle the paperwork, consents, background checks, and hearings so the process moves forward instead of stalling on a technicality.
A Colorado adoption lawyer keeps your case on track through a process with a lot of moving parts: consents, background checks, home studies, statutory deadlines, and a final hearing. Missing one requirement can push a decree back by months. At Flatiron Legal Advisors, we handle contested and uncontested adoptions across Colorado.
Most of our clients are already parenting the child. They are a stepparent, a grandparent, an aunt, or a legal custodian who wants the law to reflect what is already true at home. We help you get there.
Under C.R.S. § 19-5-202, any person 21 or older may petition to adopt, including a foster parent. Someone younger may petition with the court’s approval. If you are married or in a civil union, you generally petition jointly with your partner unless that partner is already the child’s parent.
The child must usually be under 18. A young adult between 18 and 21 can still be adopted with court approval.
Certain felony convictions disqualify a petitioner, and some misdemeanors require court approval. Everyone petitioning, plus every adult living in the home, completes background checks. Colorado requires a Colorado Bureau of Investigation check, an FBI fingerprint check, and a child protection registry check, all run within 90 days before the petition is filed.
The most common path we see. You are married to or in a civil union with the child’s parent and want full legal parent status. The custodial parent consents, and the other legal parent either consents or has their rights terminated.
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The Colorado Judicial Branch publishes a stepparent adoption self-help guide if you want to see the forms involved.
For a grandparent, sibling, half-sibling, aunt, uncle, or first cousin who has been raising the child. You generally need physical custody of the child for a year or more, plus proof that the birth parents abandoned the child or failed without cause to support the child for a year or more.
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For a non-relative raising a child under an allocation of parental responsibilities order or a guardianship. The legal custody adoption process follows similar abandonment or nonsupport standards.
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We also handle second parent adoptions where a child has one sole legal parent, adoptions following a relinquishment or agency placement, and adult adoptions filed in juvenile court.
Not every adoption is agreed. When a birth parent objects, the case becomes a termination fight, and the evidence has to be built carefully. We handle the child support payment history, the record of contact or lack of it, the diligent search when a parent’s address is unknown, and the hearing itself. If you are on the other side of one of these petitions, we defend parental rights too.
Every Colorado adoption petition must address whether the child is an Indian child. Under C.R.S. § 19-5-208, the petition has to state what inquiries were made, identify whether the child is an Indian child, and name the tribe if one applies. When notice goes to a tribe, the postal receipts get filed with the court. Colorado is home to two federally recognized tribes, and this inquiry applies to every petition, not just cases with an obvious tribal connection. Skipping it can undo a decree later.
Contested and uncontested experience. Some adoptions are paperwork. Others are litigation. We are prepared for both and will tell you up front which one you have.
We move at the pace the court allows. Adoption timelines are driven by statute, consents, and docket availability. We push where pushing helps and set honest expectations everywhere else.
Support across related matters. Adoption often follows a custody case, a guardianship, or a family law matter. Our team handles the whole picture and updates your estate plan once the decree is entered.
Jasmina Memic brings more than ten years of legal experience to Flatiron Legal Advisors, with significant work representing parties in both contested and non-contested adoptions.
Ms. Memic has litigated complex custody, divorce, child support, personal injury, and breach of contract cases, and she also handles guardianships, conservatorships, and protection orders. She received her Juris Doctorate from Ave Maria School of Law, a Master’s degree in Global Finance and Trade from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Economics, and Spanish from the University of Colorado.
She is a member of the Colorado Bar Association Family Law and Business Law Sections and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. Her approach starts with listening closely to each family’s situation, then setting clear expectations about what the process will require.
Whether the other parent has already consented or you expect a fight, the first step is the same: a clear look at what your case needs. Schedule a confidential consultation with a Colorado adoption attorney and we will map out the path from where you are to a final decree.
An uncontested stepparent adoption often runs three to six months once the consents and background checks are in hand. Contested cases that require terminating a parent’s rights take considerably longer.
Colorado allows adoption over a parent’s objection if you can show abandonment or failure without cause to provide reasonable support for one year or more. That requires evidence, not just testimony about how things felt.
A child who is 12 or older must give written consent. Younger children do not consent formally, though the court still weighs their best interests.
Kinship and custodial adoptions generally require a family assessment or home study. Petitioners can ask the court to waive it in some cases. Stepparent adoptions typically do not require one.
Usually the district court in the county where you live. In the City and County of Denver, adoption cases go to Denver Juvenile Court.
Yes. After the final decree, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issues an amended birth certificate reflecting the adoption.
