Local Attorneys Volunteer to Help Finalize Adoptions on National Adoption Day

November 8, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Nichole Johnson
Assistant director of media relations, Capital University
(614) 236-6945

Denise St. Clair
Executive director, National Center for Adoption Law & Policy
Capital University Law School
(614) 236-6730

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007–Capital University Law School Dean Jack Guttenberg and Columbus adoption attorney Thomas Taneff, a Capital Law School graduate, will be among local attorneys volunteering their time to represent families whose adoptions will be finalized on National Adoption Day, celebrated in Franklin County on Nov. 14.

On that day, the Franklin County Probate Court will join hundreds of courts across the country in a collective effort to raise awareness of the 114,000 children nationwide who are in foster care waiting for families.

“The court looks forward to working with a number of volunteer lawyers, foster-care professionals and child advocates to finalize some 20 adoptions on National Adoption Day 2007,” said Judge Lawrence Belskis, also a Capital law graduate and Franklin County Probate Judge. “Although we finalize adoptions in our court year-round, National Adoption Day gives us the opportunity to highlight the critical need for permanent, loving families for the many children who remain in foster care in our community.”

Guttenberg and Taneff partnered this year to represent Jeffrey and Denise Chapman, a Pataskala, Ohio, couple who will adopt brothers David, 14, and Alan, 11.

“We speak often with our law students about the importance of pro bono work in the legal profession and giving back to the community,” Guttenberg said. “National Adoption Day presents a great opportunity to lead by example, and what better way than to assist a family desiring to adopt a child and finding children a safe and loving home.”

The National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University Law School coordinated efforts to recruit and train the volunteer attorneys who will represent families on National Adoption Day. The children being adopted range in age from 1 to 17.

“The legal community has really stepped up to support this local event and to raise awareness of the national need for permanent homes for kids in foster care,” said Denise St. Clair, executive director of the center. “We especially appreciate the time and expertise Tom Taneff shares with us each year as the leader of our volunteer attorney training sessions.”

NCALP joined forces with Franklin County Children Services; Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Peas, LLP; and the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation in recruiting and coordinating training for the volunteer attorneys. For the first time this year, a team of attorneys and paralegals from Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company volunteered their legal expertise to assist families in all the necessary documentation to finalize the adoptions. The Nationwide pro bono attorneys and paralegals have been working with the foster-care families for more than three months to prepare for the National Adoption Day event. 

Other Capital law alumni representing families on National Adoption Day are Dawn Viggiano, L’06, staff attorney for the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy; Fawn Gadel, L’07; Patrick Hamilton, L’79, Hamilton Law Office; Carrie Birch, L’01, of JP Morgan Chase; and James Lee, L’83. NCALP staff attorney Jenifer Thompson, L’02, is coordinating the center’s participation in the event.