Practice Area

Adoption & Foster Parent Rights

From the first phone call to the day your family becomes whole — guided by 35+ years of dedicated adoption practice.

35+

Years in adoption practice

AV

Martindale-Hubbell rated

AAAA

Academy Fellow

50

States — ICPC experience

Overview

How we help families like yours

Hal Atencio is nationally renowned in adoption law and a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. We represent prospective parents, birth parents, foster families, and intervening relatives through every form of adoption recognized in New Mexico — and across state lines.

Harold (Hal) Atencio

Lead attorney

Hal Atencio →

What we handle

Areas of representation

Tap any service to see how we approach it.

Includes

  • ›Birth-parent counseling and consents
  • ›Hospital plan and revocation period
  • ›Finalization petition and decree

Includes

  • ›Consent or termination of the other biological parent
  • ›Streamlined home-study exemption when available
  • ›Updated birth certificate after decree

Includes

  • ›Coordination with kinship-guardianship status
  • ›Subsidy eligibility review (when from foster care)

Includes

  • ›Motion to intervene in abuse/neglect cases
  • ›Adoption assistance and Title IV-E subsidies
  • ›Permanency hearing advocacy

Includes

  • ›Sending and receiving state ICPC packets
  • ›Coordination with out-of-state counsel
  • ›Travel clearance for the child

Includes

  • ›Consent of the adoptee
  • ›Estate-planning implications and name change

Our process

How we work with you

  1. 01

    Eligibility & Path Selection

    1–2 weeks

    We assess your situation and help you choose the type of adoption that fits — independent, agency, foster, or relative.

  2. 02

    Home Study & Clearances

    2–4 months

    We coordinate the licensed home study, ICPC packet (if applicable), and required background clearances.

  3. 03

    Paperwork & Court Filings

    30–90 days

    Petitions, consents, ICPC clearances, and termination of parental rights when needed — all handled in-house.

  4. 04

    Finalization

    1 hearing

    We stand with you in court when the judge signs the final decree and your child becomes legally yours.

Come prepared

What to bring to your consultation

Don't have everything? Come anyway. This is just to make the most of our time.

  • ✓Government-issued ID for each prospective parent
  • ✓Marriage or domestic-partnership certificate (if applicable)
  • ✓Any existing custody, foster, or guardianship orders
  • ✓Birth-parent contact info (for independent adoption)
  • ✓Home-study report (if already completed)

Client voice

"Hal made the impossible feel possible. He answered every late-night question, navigated the ICPC maze, and was standing beside us the day our daughter became ours forever."

— Adoptive parents, Albuquerque

Plain-language glossary

Key terms, demystified

ICPC
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children — federal-state framework governing any adoption that crosses state lines.
Home Study
A licensed agency's written assessment of the prospective adoptive home, required for most non-step-parent adoptions.
TPR
Termination of Parental Rights — the legal step that ends the birth parent's rights so the adoption can proceed.
CYFD
New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department — the state agency overseeing foster care and child welfare.

Frequently asked

Questions families ask us

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