In many cases, a step-parent may decide to adopt their spouse's biological child. This may be due to a number of reasons. If the relationship between the biological parent and child is still positive, then you can create a contact agreement even after the adoption has taken place.  A contact agreement allows the biological parent to still maintain contact with their child. This is beneficial if you would like the biological parent to still be involved in the child's life. However, it can be difficult to come to an agreement between two parties. Therefore, there are a few tips you should use when creating your agreement after the adoption.

Consider the Best Interests of the Child

A contact agreement should be created based on the best interest of the child. If the child has a positive relationship with their biological parent, then it may be beneficial to give the biological parent frequent visits. However, this can change if the biological parent is not reliable and pops into the child's life whenever they see fit. The child will benefit more from having consistent visits.

Create a Written Agreement

While a verbal agreement between both parties may work well, this type of contract may not hold up in court. You want to protect yourself in case one party decides to break the contact agreement. Courts will only enforce written contracts that they have previously approved. A verbal contract will not be approved by the court. Therefore, you should get a contact after adoption agreement form from your local courthouse. The contact agreement form differs from state to state.

Go to Mediation

Creating a written contact agreement requires all parties to come to an agreement about the kind of contact the biological parent will have and how often they can contact the child. This can be difficult to do if the biological parent feels that they deserve a more hands-on contact agreement and the adoptive parents disagree. Mediation will allow all parties to meet in order to come to an agreement. During these sessions, a mediator is present to act as an objective party to the situation.

Creating a contact agreement for a biological parent can be difficult to do because each parent believes that they understand what will work best for the child. Therefore, use these tips to ensure that you are able to come to some type of agreement.

For professional legal help, contact a lawyer such as John Alegria Attorney at Law.