St. Paul, MN family law attorney John Jerabek talks about his experience in handling adoptions. His experience in adoption law stands apart from many others. He shares that he is often called into situations involving contested adoptions, where an adoption agency seeks his help in cases with competing requests for the adoption of a child. He also represents private clients in such matters.

These cases, he believes, are meaningful ones. Having spent significant time working in juvenile court, he has seen the heartbreaking situations where children have no one and are unwanted. By contrast, contested adoptions, though difficult, often involve children who are deeply wanted by multiple parties.

Still, he acknowledges that these are tough cases. The court can only resolve them one way, granting adoption to one party—whether a parent, foster parent, or relative—while others are left disappointed. The process is both difficult and heartbreaking. Yet compared to many other cases he handles, these matters carry positives as well, since at their heart they reflect a fight to give a child a permanent and loving home.