Being invited to join the Georgia Council of Adoption Lawyers is one of the proudest professional milestones of my career — and it’s one I don’t take lightly.
It reflects not just where my practice stands today, but the years of hands-on work with Georgia families that got me here.
I wanted to share a little more about this organization, what it took to become a Fellow, and — most importantly — what it means for the families I represent.
GCAL is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit founded in 2010 to serve Georgia’s adoption law community and the families it touches. Its work centers on five core goals: educating and supporting adoption attorneys across the state, providing the public with reliable information about adoption law, developing and promoting best practices among adoption attorneys, offering legislative advocacy when it’s needed, and supporting Georgia’s judicial branch through education and amicus briefs on adoption matters. In short, GCAL exists to keep Georgia adoption law practiced ethically, knowledgeably, and in the best interest of the children and families it affects.
You can’t simply apply to join GCAL — membership is by invitation only, and every application is reviewed and approved by GCAL’s Board of Directors. To even be considered, an attorney has to show a real, sustained commitment to adoption law, including:
It’s a high bar, and it’s meant to be. Fellows are expected, as GCAL puts it, to “meet the highest standards for adoption attorneys and provide exemplary service to their clients.”
Adoption law isn’t a side practice for me — it’s the focus. That’s exactly what GCAL Fellowship is designed to recognize: attorneys for whom adoption isn’t one practice area among many, but a primary commitment backed by real casework, ongoing education, and accountability to some of the strictest ethical standards in the profession.
When you work with a GCAL Fellow, you’re working with someone whose adoption law experience has been vetted by peers who know exactly what that work requires — not just a bar license and a website, but years in the courtroom, in mediation, and at the table with birth parents, adoptive families, and children navigating one of the biggest transitions of their lives.
I’m deeply grateful to be part of a community of attorneys across Georgia who care as much about doing this work rightas I do. Every family I represent deserves an attorney who has put in the time, the training, and the heart to get adoption law right — and being a Fellow of GCAL is both a recognition of that commitment and a promise to keep earning it.
If you’re navigating an adoption in Georgia, I’d be honored to help guide your family through it.