Adoption Law Seminar
Prof. Rhonda Wasserman
Course Description
Prerequisite: Family Law
Family ties can be created by biology, commitment, and/or law. This seminar will address many of the pressing issues that arise when adoptive families are created by law. Topics may include the adoption process (and the differences between agency and independent or private adoptions); the form, timing and revocability of parental consent to adoption; placement criteria (including the race and sexual orientation of the adoptive parent); the legal effects of adoption; confidentiality versus open adoption; step-parent and second-parent adoptions; and alternatives to adoption. The final grade in the course will be based on five factors: (1) the first draft of the seminar paper; (2) the final draft of the paper and the quality of the improvements from the first draft; (3) the presentation; (4) the written comments on the draft of another student's paper; and (5) classroom participation and attendance. Enrollment is limited to 12 students.