Georgia ? Adopting a Child | eLocal

DIFFICULTY: Legal assistance is recommended, lawyer required to file adoption petition

Initial Filing Fee: $0

Georgia recognizes the importance of adoption for the health and safety of children. There are two basic steps as with most states, termination of the legal parental rights of the birth parents is first. The second step is qualifying as an adoptive parent which requires you prove your ability to care for a child, your psychological stability and then formalize the entire process. Unlike in other states, Georgia has a solid ?10 day rule? for voluntary birth parents to change their minds. After that, there is no going back and reclaiming the child.

There are three types of adoption in Georgia: public agencies, private agencies and private adoption. Private adoption typically means by relative caregivers such as stepparents or grandparents, sometimes older siblings. This option requires a petition be filed with the probate court. Private adoptions through private agencies require the same type of petition. Public adoptions walk you through the state system which is described as ?IMPACT? in Georgia. The letters stand for Initial Interest, Mutual Selection, Pre-service Training, Assessment, Continuing Development and Teamwork. The goal is to make the transition easy on the child and the parents. It reduces the rate in which children are returned and it helps to provide a more stable environment.

While you can attempt to handle the process without consulting an attorney in the public adoptions, it is still advisable to seek counsel. The last step of the process, filing the adoption petition, does require a lawyer to file no matter what type of adoption it is. Private adoptions require the use of an attorney in order to ensure the proper filings with the court.

Step 1: Determining Your Eligibility in Georgia

Georgia has fairly lenient rules when it comes to adopting a child, but there are certain minimum criteria that must be met on the surface.

?? You must be a legal resident of Georgia for at least six months
?? You must be at least 25 years of age
?? You must be more than ten years older than the child you are adopting
?? If you are married you can be as young as 18 and adopt
?? Both spouses must adopt if you are married (unless it is a stepparent and the child is that of the other spouse.)
?? You must not have a serious criminal conviction specifically related to the health and safety of minors

Step 2: Determining the Type of Adoption You Wish to Proceed With

Through public and private agencies, when you begin the process the child?s biological parental rights will have already been terminated. If you are going for a private adoption, that is the first step. The biological parents must file with the court to terminate parental rights of the child. This can be an arduous process if the parents are unwilling, but it still can be done for the safety and welfare of the child.

In Georgia it is illegal for parents to take out ads or post adoptions anywhere. You must seek out an adoption through an agency. The rights to the child can be given up as soon as they are born, but not before.

?? Public adoption program
?? List of private adoption agencies

Step 3: Termination of Biological Parents? Rights and Obligations

In Georgia it is important to note the father has legal rights to the child. This means you need both parties to sign off on the termination of rights. That being said, if the father is unavailable or unknown, the rights can still be given by the mother. In many other states only the mother is guaranteed rights to the child often making the termination process easier. Georgia has a number of ways to properly sever the rights of the father.

Step 4: Fill Out the Adoption Application and Attend Orientation

If you are using a private adoption agency, the orientation usually just means meeting with the company. If you are going through the public system you will go through a formal orientation. You will see all the children available in Georgia and you will be asked to take time before you make your final decision to move forward.

Step 5: IMPACT

You will begin with a series of classes that go over the impact of adoption on your family as well as behavior management techniques. It will also cover the agency?s role in the adoption process. This is not a required step for private adoptions.

The rest of the IMPACT process is the same for private adoptions. You will go through family evaluation. There will be multiple visits to your home, gathering off all financial information, checking your credit, checking your background and personal psychological discussions about your theory on adoption.

Step 6: Written Report
After the home study a detailed written report is provided to the state. There are strict guidelines about the completion of this report whether you are going through a private agency or working publically. It will note your willingness and completion of training workshops as well as additional materials.

Step 7: Pre-Placement/Placement

Prior to the court making final determination the child can be placed with the adoptive family. This is based on the completion of the courses and the home study. In Georgia it is important that these steps be completed as well as a mutual agreement between the adoptee and the new parents. In the public system this is often considered part of the ?foster care? program and in private circumstances it is pre-placement until the paperwork is done. A series of visits will take place prior to the placement in your home. This step can only be taken in Georgia once the parental rights have been fully severed, unlike states like California where you can begin the process prior to the cessation of parental rights.

The case manager will visit you during this time regularly. Other states have a specific time frame listed when it comes to how long the child must live with you before you can file the paperwork for adoption; Georgia does not. It leaves the time frame up to the case manager, the parents and the child.

Step 8: Finalization

Filing the adoption petition lets the court know your intentions. A hearing will be held by the Superior Court Judge in your county and is usually just a formality after all the previous steps have been taken. If you are adopting a child with special needs, there are a number of financial assistance options available to you as well as certain special entitlements in order to help these children find homes.

Additional Resources

?? Adoption Policy and Forms
?? Adoption Contact Information
?? Georgia Adoption Recruitment
?? FAQs Adoption in Georgia
?? Harmony Family Center

Source: http://www.elocallawyers.com/content/lawyers/georgia-adopting-child-3026

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Vampires, Werewolves & Witches, Oh My!

Vampires
Vampires have two states. Their first, and the one they?re most comfortable in, is what resembles a large, muscular, hairless dog (which, just like humans, can be pale, tan, or dark skinned), which stands on two legs but has a curved spine, giving it a hunchback look. Another notable thing about them is that, though they have the same eye colours as humans, their eye is completely this colour, apart from their pupil. They are easily more powerful in this form, and have large, curved claws, and teeth that could rip a human in half. Their speed is enough to rival a cheetah, and they are strong enough to lift a truck. Most are stealthy, and could run at incredible speeds without making a sound. This form was designed to be a killer, and if you encounter a vampire in this form, you half little chance of making it out alive.

Their second state resembles a human. Vampires have control over how they appear to others, except for things such as skin tone and eye colour. They are much weaker in this state but can blend in much easier, and vampires tend to find hunting like this more fun, as their first state has very little awareness of emotions, apart from things such as hunger, lust and fear. They are only as fast or as strong as their body, so it is rare to see an obese vampire and a lot of vampires try to be as muscular as possible. They have prominent canines, and in the dark their eyes shine, due to their night vision.

Vampires live on human blood. Though animal blood can sate their thirst temporarily, it is not a substitute for human blood. If a vampire were to drink too much animal blood, they would experience nausea, dizziness, and would usually feel weak. This state lasts for approximately an hour. Similar side effects can result from lack of human blood, though these side effects get more severe the longer they withhold from blood, eventually the vampire will be bedridden and their organs will shut down.

Vampires do not die, or sparkle, in sunlight ? though they tend to burn easily, some have been recorded to been in temperatures as low as 15 degrees Celsius (approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit), so they prefer colder climates. Holy water and crosses are both myths, and garlic can hold them back, even kills if swallowed, but only in their dog-like state. They can be killed by lack of human blood, stake to the heart, or if their head is chopped off. A weapon such as bullets hurt, but do not kill and the blood that they bleed is human blood that they have digested. There is speculation on whether a vampire could be killed by being continuously injured, until it runs out of human blood and dies of lack of it, though this theory has never been tested.

When around vampires in their human states, humans natural instincts is to feel lustful, unless eye contact is made, in which case the human will instinctively feel slight fear. Vampires can transfer their venom through the saliva, which could mean a kiss, bite, or simply drinking from the same glass as a vampire. This will result in a dizzy human, until they pass out. They will wake up with a craving for human blood and heightened senses. Their conscious will slowly disappear, and it usually takes about five years until they no longer feel any remorse for their kills, unless it is their own kind. As the vampires don?t have a conscious, deaths from lack of human blood tend to be very early in the transformation stage, as this is when vampires feel the worst about killing others. Vampires are fiercely loyal to other vampires, and usually travel in groups or at least pairs, as otherwise they will feel extremely lonely and often fall into depression. Although they do not have a conscience, vampires still feel human emotions, such as sadness, anger, happiness, surprise, pain, etc., and if they fall in love with someone, even if they're human, they will do just as much to protect them as anyone else would.

Witches
Witches are humans, male and female, whom have studied witchcraft. Though technically not all witches have to be evil, as witchcraft is usually dark magic and as it is a choice whether or not to use it, they tend to have dark personalities. This also means it is rare to see young witches, though not impossible, for if a parent encourages their child to learn witchcraft then children could easily become witches.

Witches usually do not ride around on broomsticks; this was assumed after a fleeing witch charmed a broomstick to fly in order to get away quickly. In fact, it would probably be a bad idea to fly on a broomstick, they don?t tend to be very stable and the same witch that gave us this legend fell off the broomstick and died. They also generally don?t wear hats or have black cats, and if they do, this is not because they are a witch. The only legend is true is the use of cauldrons, though even that is slowly becoming less and less popular, and a lot of witches simply use large mixing bowls to brew spells.
The choking spell, bad luck spell, bladder control spell and plague spell are fairly straight forward ? they choke the victim, give bad luck to the victim, give the victim bad bladder control and give the victim a fatal illness. All of these spells need the DNA of the victim, and the most commonly used DNA samples are hair and blood. Some other spells include famine spell ? which will curse the land that the spell is spilled over, so that no crops shall ever grow there, and communicating with the dead, which also needs DNA of said dead person. Witches have been known to charm these ghosts using the Hypnosis Spell to get the ghost to do their bidding.

There are other spells also, though these are not commonly used and little people know the recipe to them. After approximately a year of spell casting, witches tend to become more introverted, selfish, and cold towards others. Soon after this, they start to get abilities within them, most likely side effects of being constantly surrounded by different ingredients and spells. For example, a witch of a year could change a seed - make it grow something else ? or make food go rotten by touching it. After several years, witches can bewitch objects, such as making a broomstick fly.

Werewolves
Werewolves have the appearance of a large wolf, though they?re much faster, stronger and smarter. They can change into a human state, in fact, human is their normal form and some would consider lycanthropy little more than an illness or side effect. Their human form is practically of that of a normal human, except they have canine tendencies, such as being hungry a lot. They generally have fast metabolisms. There is no way to become a werewolf, it is a gene that is passed down from generations, and not all children of werewolves possess this gene, though they can still pass the gene down to their children, and so forth.

Werewolves can also not change into their wolf appearance purposely. It happens approximately one third of the time, only at night time and the nights are at random, though it is more likely to happen if a werewolf is angry, scared, or threatened. If a werewolf changes on a full moon, they will become extremely powerful, more so than usual. If angered with in this state, they can often destroy whole villages in anger. Most nights that werewolves change, they will kill the nearest human to them, or kill someone that they?ve recently been angry with, even if it is just a small anguish. Werewolves can be good people, and if they are they tend to try their hardest to be happy and stay positive, so that they won?t kill anyone when they change. If they are far away from humans and have no enemies, they will go on a rampage, and kill any and all animals close by.

When in wolf form, some of its basic emotions are intact; such as whom they dislike. One of the other emotions they can feel in wolf form is love, though this is more an understanding that if this person were harmed, they would be upset later, so they try and save them. Mourning werewolves have been known to sleep through the day and only go out at night when changed, when the emotions are less intense and they only have to go off instinct. When in human form, the werewolf can be killed like a normal human being, but they have a faster healing rate than normal. When in wolf form, the only thing that can hurt them is silver, whether that is a bullet or knife, and on a full moon they are nearly unstoppable. Also, werewolves refer to themselves as lycanthropes.

Monster Hunters
Monster hunters are generally what they?re known as, though other words have been used. Monster Hunters are humans who know the truth about monsters, and have made it their job to stop them. Most monster hunters have little friends outside of other hunters, as they tend to travel a lot and keeping connections is difficult. The job is difficult ? and by that, I mean impossible. Most hunters are dead before they?ve even started to grey, and the ones that do reach retirement have seen more death than a cemetery.

Humans
These are simply people who live in Intimsake, and most of them, don?t even know of the existence of mythical creatures.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/leGOBp0WZWk/viewtopic.php

Super Moon 2013

The sounds of science: Melting of iceberg creates surprising ocean din

[unable to retrieve full-text content]There is growing concern about how much noise humans generate in marine environments through shipping, oil exploration and other developments, but a new study has found that naturally occurring phenomena could potentially affect some ocean dwellers. Nowhere is this concern greater than in the polar regions, where the effects of global warming often first manifest themselves. The breakup of ice sheets and the calving and grounding of icebergs can create enormous sound energy, scientists say. Now a new study has found that the mere drifting of an iceberg from near Antarctica to warmer ocean waters produces startling levels of noise.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/5CVOl0_RdsM/130710214243.htm

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Thousands expected to pay final tribute to fallen Arizona firemen

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Thousands of mourners, including firefighters from around the country and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, were expected to converge in central Arizona on Tuesday to pay final tribute to 19 young firemen killed last week in the line of duty.

The fallen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite firefighting squad from Prescott, Arizona, were overrun by flames on the afternoon of June 30 as they battled a lightning-sparked blaze with hand tools outside the tiny town of Yarnell.

The tragedy marked the greatest loss of life from a U.S. wildfire in 80 years, and the highest number of American firefighters killed in a single incident since the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

Precise circumstances of the firefighters' deaths in Arizona remain under investigation.

But authorities have said the 19 specially trained firefighters, most of them in their 20s, apparently became trapped in seconds as a burst of gale-force winds from an approaching thunderstorm drove flames back in their direction.

The team quickly deployed cocoon-like personal protective shelters in a last-ditch effort to take cover, but some of the men never even made it into the foil-coated capsules.

The disaster sent waves of shock and grief through the firefighters' hometown of Prescott, a city of 40,000 people some 60 miles northwest of Phoenix, the state capital.

"Many of the people in this town knew some of those firefighters, or at least knew some of their families," said David Eaker, a spokesman for organizers of Tuesday's memorial service.

The event was scheduled for late morning at an entertainment and sports arena in the adjacent town of Prescott Valley. Organizers set up overflow space outside to handle a crowd expected to exceed the arena's seating capacity of around 6,000.

Biden was slated to lead a group of dignitaries also set to include U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, as well as representatives of fire departments from across the United States. Biden and Brewer will speak at the event.

The sole surviving member of the Granite Mountain team, Brendan McDonough, was scheduled to read an offering titled "The Hot Shot's Prayer." McDonough was acting as a lookout for the crew about a mile away from his colleagues and on higher ground when they were overrun by flames. He escaped unhurt.

While the memorial service is open to the public, individual funerals for the fallen firefighters are to be held privately in coming days, Eaker said.

On Sunday, a solemn procession of 19 white hearses escorted by police on motorcycles brought the remains of the fire crew home to the Prescott area from Phoenix, where autopsies were performed. But the caskets will not be present for Tuesday's service.

The so-called Yarnell Hill fire, one of dozens of wildland blazes that have raged across several western states this summer, charred 8,400 acres of thick, tinder-dry chaparral, oak scrub and grasslands after erupting on June 28. Scores of homes in and around Yarnell were destroyed.

As of Monday, crews had managed to carve containment lines around 90 percent of the smoldering fire's perimeter. Evacuation orders also were lifted for the last of the residents forced from their homes more than a week ago in Yarnell and the nearby town of Peeples Valley.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-expected-pay-final-tribute-fallen-arizona-firemen-100419592.html

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Send In Your Questions For Ask A VC With Lightspeed Ventures' Bipul Sinha

This week on TechCrunch TV's Ask A VC show, we have Lightspeed Ventures' Partner Bipul Sinha in the studio. As you may remember, you can submit questions for our guests either in the comments or here and we?ll ask them during the show.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dBPRUE1nIsE/

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Introducing PFT's top 100

Getty Images

We?re rolling out our own list of the Top 100 players in the NFL this month, with the first 25 names unveiled today.

Although this wasn?t our intention (the list is ordered solely based on the way our panel of NFL media members cast their votes), the first name we?re unveiling, at No. 76, happens to be a player whose presence on the list will be the subject of a great deal of debate. We?re sure plenty of you will agree, plenty will disagree, and you?ll have a lot to say in the comments.

The Bottom 25 of PFT?s Top 100 are below.

76 Tony Romo, quarterback, Cowboys

77 Doug Martin, running back, Buccaneers

78 Frank Gore, running back, 49ers

79 Carl Nicks, guard, Buccaneers

80 Maurice Jones-Drew, running back, Jaguars

81 Vernon Davis, tight end, 49ers

82 Evan Mathis, guard, Eagles

83 Alfred Morris, running back, Redskins

84 Joe Haden, cornerback, Browns

85 C.J. Spiller, running back, Bills

86 Calais Campbell, defensive end, Cardinals

87 Matthew Stafford, quarterback, Lions

88 Antonio Cromartie, cornerback, Jets

89 Jason Peters, offensive tackle, Eagles

90 Jordan Gross, offensive tackle, Panthers

91 Mike Pouncey, center, Dolphins

92 Mike Wallace, receiver, Dolphins

93 Reggie Wayne, receiver, Colts

94 Ed Reed, safety, Texans

95 Henry Melton, defensive tackle, Bears

96 Lance Briggs, linebacker, Bears

97 Steve Smith, receiver, Panthers

98 Antoine Winfield, cornerback, Seahawks

99 Max Unger, center, Seahawks

100 Matt Forte, running back, Bears

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/01/pfts-top-100-76-100/related/

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Oregon's new charity law takes tax break away (Providence Journal)

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