Service Provider Spotlight – Hal Atencio

Over the years, we've cultivated a robust network of trusted adoption service professionals to refer our adoptive families and birth parents to. This series features Q&As with a few of our referrals from across the country.

What is your title & specialty?

I am an attorney and I limit my practice to adoptions and assisted reproduction technology law.

What areas do you serve?

I am licensed in New Mexico, and I practice in all judicial districts in the state.

What do you like most about what you do?

I love helping my clients build their families. I also enjoy helping birthmothers and gestational carriers in their efforts to help hopeful parents build their families.

What are your hobbies/interests outside of work?

I was an avid distance runner for many years and ran 15 full marathons and I have played the drums my entire life. Now I like to travel and play golf with my wife/law partner and dive the one- and three-meter springboard with my 15-year-old son.

What advice do you have for prospective adoptive parents?

Research the law in the different states. Work with reputable professionals. Take advantage of the vast experience of attorneys who are fellows with the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (Quad A).

What's your most memorable or rewarding moment from working in adoption?

There have been many cases in which I successfully helped adoptive parents complete difficult or complex adoptions. Each of them brings great satisfaction. But if I am required to choose one, I would have to select a particular case involving a contested adoption. My clients were successful at the trial level, were reversed by the Court of Appeals, and then the Court of Appeals was reversed by the New Mexico Supreme Court. As a result, the child was raised by the adoptive parents from birth and the child was never removed from their home. I recently attended the now 18-year-old child's high school graduation party where his parents asked me to give a speech about the process and how their case created new law in New Mexico that has helped many other adoptive parents over the years.

Do you have a personal connection to adoption?

My first adoption case was for my sister and brother-in-law. They were adopting their second child. Their first adoption was very expensive due to high medical expenses of the child and significant medical conditions that were present at birth. The parents asked me to complete their second adoption pro bono (no charge). I agreed with the understanding that I would be learning along the way. That adoption was very rewarding, and not just because I was helping members of my family. So when I learned that an adoption agency was located in my office building, I approached that agency and before I knew what was happening, I was doing more adoption work than any other attorney in New Mexico. My practice has reached the point where I no longer accept anything but adoption and assisted reproduction cases.