Law Firm Overview

Agency Profile:

1. Patricia L. Strowbridge is a Florida Bar Board Certified attorney in Family and Marital Law and the Executive Director of A Chosen Child, Inc., a Florida licensed-child placing agency. The Agency works with both women/couples seeking to place their unborn child(ren) for private adoption and prospective adoptive parent(s). The Agency further works toward making private adoptions more readily available to many pregnant women who might otherwise have their children removed by the state and for children who are already in state custody and in need of a permanent home.

2. The Agency provides the following services:

1. Social services support for women/couples seeking to place their child(ren) for private adoption, including arranging for Medicaid, Food Stamps, 4-C, WIC, safe and affordable housing, and other federal and state assistance; counseling to assist crisis pregnancy issues and grief processing ; maternity clothing; and making arrangements for assistance with living expenses from adoptive parents.
2. Identifying, qualifying, educating and assisting prospective adoptive parents interested in adopting children, either domestically (within the United States or Puerto Rico) or internationally (an orphaned child requiring immigration processing to enter the United States).
3. Assisting prospective adoptive parents interested in adopting a child in selecting the most appropriate adoption program by providing them with extensive information regarding various types of adoptions.
4. Initiating and completing a home study process for prospective adoptive parents, including state criminal and abuse history background checks, in order to insure that the proposed adoptive home is a safe and appropriate environment for an adopted child.
5. Post-Placement supervision upon placement of an adoptive child in the prospective adoptive home.
6. Educational references, guidance and social services throughout the adoption process to support our adoptive parents as to all aspects of the process, including emotional, psychological, spiritual, and legal issues that may be of concern to them.
7. Educating various professionals working in the field of adoption, including attorneys, social workers, hospital nurses and risk managers, court administration personnel, judges, and other adoption agency personnel regarding legal and practical aspects of adoption.
8. Conducting free seminars and in-service training for professionals working in the field of adoption to provide them with current information regarding legal issues surrounding the adoption process to insure that adoptions are correctly and legally completed, thereby protecting the rights of adopted children to have stable placements, adoptive parents to have security in the adoption process and birth parents to be free from illegal, misinformed or inappropriate termination of their parental rights. Seminars and in-service training are ordinarily conducted at the place of business of the particular professional group and are usually in the Orlando, Florida area, although some seminars may be conducted in other cities in Florida.
9. Consulting with and/or assisting professional organizations seeking to improve the adoption laws. Create new legislation that would make adoption more secure and effective and/or improve methods and laws to regulate enforcement of existing laws relative to adoption.

3. The Agency further provides services to and/or raises money for children's charities, crisis pregnancy centers, adoption programs for abused, neglected and/or orphaned children, organizations providing medical or social services to children and/or pregnancy women and adoption programs for pregnant women who are incarcerated, drug dependant or otherwise are unable to care for their children. Advertising, legal assistance, promotional assistance, organizational assistance and/or financial assistance to the above-referenced general types of organizations are also provided by the Agency.

4. The Agency also participates as members in various professional organizations including the Florida Adoption Council to provide valuable information and assistance to members and in lobbying efforts to improve our adoption laws. The Agency does not raise money for or participate in political campaigns.

Attorneys on staff:

Strowbridge, Patricia L.

West Practice Categories

Family Law, Adoption, Child Support, Divorce, Immigration & Naturalization Law, International Law