For more than 30 years, Wagstaff & Pitelis has worked hard to help our clients finalize adoptions. Whether for hopeful parents or relatives (including grandparents, step-parents, and second parents), we have more than 50 years of combined experience helping Tampa Bay families become complete. We have also represented Catholic Charities in their adoptive cases throughout the region.
We strive to make our offices as comfortable and welcoming as possible, so no matter your situation, you can feel confident trusting us with your family's needs.
How Can An Adoption Lawyer Help You?
For more than 30 years, Wagstaff & Pitelis has represented Catholic Charities’ Diocese of St. Petersburg, an organization dedicated to helping future parents and providing proper counseling for pregnant women. Our work with Catholic Charities has given us incomparable experience with the complexities of the adoption process.
Although Wagstaff & Pitelis is not an adoption agency, as adoption lawyers we can help with adoption-related legal matters and scenarios, including:
- Independent or Agency Adoption - When a family wishes to grow by welcoming a new child or children into their home either by direct adoption or agency referral.
- Step Parent - When a parent gets remarried, their new spouse may choose to adopt a child or children from a previous relationship.
- Second Parent - When two same-sex individuals in a relationship decide to have a baby, one may choose to be the biological parent. The second parent of the child will choose to legally adopt the child in order to secure full custody and parental rights.
- Relative - These occur when a relative of the child steps in to fill a parental role. This can occur if the state has taken parental rights away or if the biological parents have passed away. The law heavily favors relatives raising a child, rather than the child going into foster care. This can apply to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and other relatives.
We focus on therapeutic jurisprudence with all of our cases. Therapeutic jurisprudence considers how legal proceedings affect the psychology, emotions, and mental well-being of individuals. Powerful emotions often accompany family law cases and it is our goal to guide your family through them as peacefully as possible.
Why Wagstaff & Pitelis?
At Wagstaff & Pitelis, not only are we dedicated adoption lawyers, but we are also one of the few law firms in the Tampa Bay area to practice both adoption and family law. We rarely need to refer you to someone else, but if we do, we have a network of trusted professionals who care as deeply as we do.
If you need the services of an adoption lawyer, call Wagstaff & Pitelis today at 727-584-8182 to schedule a consultation.