| Law Offices of Deborah E. Spivack PA Office: P.O. Box 56182 Philadelphia, PA, 19130 DE Office: 800 King Street, 8g St, 1st Fl, Wilmington, DE 19801 NJ Office: P.O. Box 3433, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034 Contact for Services in PA, NJ and DE: Email: Debbie@familybuildinglaw.net 866-999-5550 (toll free) 215-763-5550(t) 215-763-5553(f) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Deborah E. Spivack Member, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys Law Offices of Deborah E. Spivack Serving Clients in PA, NJ and DE PA: P.O. Box 56182, Philadelphia, PA 19130 NJ: P.O. Box 3433, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-0332 DE: 800 King Street, 1st Floor, Wilmington, DE 19801 215-763-5550 (t), 215-763-5553 (f) Debbie@familybuildinglaw.net www.familybuildinglaw.net |
Biography of Deborah E. Spivack - C.V. (Admitted in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Delaware)
Welcome to the website for the Law Offices of Deborah E. Spivack. My practice focuses on
helping families to understand the legal tools available to grow their families and to help them
accomplish this in a manner that fits their goals. My background includes direct experience in
the international and domestic adoption fields, as well as representing organizations in
commercial litigation and corporate transactions. I have worked with client families and
organizations over the years to assist them in achieving their goals, and have been a vocal and
effective advocate on adoption policy issues.
Most recently, I have served as the Executive Director of Reaching Out thru International
Adoption. In this position, I was centrally involved in all aspects of placing hundreds of
children from countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and Central America with families
throughout the United States. I worked closely with adoptive parent clients on all aspects of
their cases, and worked closely with foreign counterparts to address legal issues on the foreign
processing side of their cases. I also developed relationships with foreign attorneys,
orphanages, and government officials to create new adoption programs and provide
humanitarian aid.
I frequently served as a guest speaker at a number of adoption events geared towards adoptive
families for organizations such as Resolve Infertility Network and the Adoptive Parents
Committee of New York, and will soon be speaking to agencies about preparations for
implementation of the Hague Treaty on Intercountry Adoption. I have held leadership roles
in the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) ( www.jcics.org ), the oldest
and largest affiliation of licensed, non-profit international adoption organizations around the
world, and other organizations.
Most notably, I served an active member of a number of committees (including the JCICS
Hague Regulation committee and the Hague Committee of Advisory Council on Intercountry
Adoption, a collaboration of national organizations recognized as leaders in the ethical and
professional practice of adoption and child welfare services) which reviewed and provided
comments to the regulations proposed in 2003 to implement the Intercountry Adoption Act of
2000 and Hague Convention in the United States. The Hague Regulation Analysis I drafted
was widely favored and accepted within the adoption community for its constructive critical
analysis of the damaging legal and policy impact of certain regulations, and, ultimately the
suggestions proposed in my analysis was adopted in total into the final draft of the
Regulations, issued in February 2006. In addition, I served as the JCICS Chairperson of the
Azerbaijan Caucus, the Co-Chairperson of the ICARE Government Affairs Committee. In
2005, I was awarded with the 110% Member Award in appreciation for the work performed
on the ICARE legislation analysis.
I currently serve as a member of the Board of Directors of Focus on Adoption, intercountry
adoption advocacy organization whose mission is to further adoption policy that is
transparent, ethical and does not limit a child's chance to join a forever family.
My legal experience further includes domestic adoption, and corporate bankruptcy and
commercial experience for a large law firm in Wilmington, Delaware. After graduation law
school in 1993, I served as a law clerk in the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware.
My newest and proudest role is being an adoptive mother of a beautiful child from
Guatemala. I very much hope to help you to experience the joy of family through adoption or
the many legal tools available today through assisted reproductive technology.