My client wants to enter into a Post-Adoption Contact Agreement as part of the adoption. Are these agreements enforceable in New Jersey?

Agreements between adoptive parents and birth parents for post-adoption contact which could range from pictures, letters, and updates, to actual visits, may be entered into by and between the parties, but they are not enforceable in New Jersey. See In re Guardianship of K.H.O. 161 N.J. 337, 362 (1999). Nevertheless, parties frequently enter into these agreements but with this understanding regarding non-enforceability. It should be noted that most adoption agencies in New Jersey require the adoptive parents to provide, at a minimum, pictures, letters, and updates to the agency about the child which will then be forwarded to the birth parents if the birth parents wish to receive them.