By all accounts Attorney Mark Hirabayashi has led a pretty charmed life, having grown up in beautiful Hawaii with his parents and siblings, but underneath his easy smile is a clear understanding that as wonderful as life may be, the balance of peace and order can abruptly shift, and your world can become unhinged, as it did for his father who was living in America during World War II, but found himself thrown into an Arkansas internment camp simply because he was Japanese.
As a young man Attorney Hirabayashi found himself curious about the variables necessary to maintain the equilibrium of amalgamating cultures into a given society. Hawaii, considered the melting pot of the Pacific, provided the perfect setting for Att. Hirabayashi’s interests, with its mixture of Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, Filipino and Portuguese ethnicities with the indigenous Hawaiians.
After receiving his B.A. in Sociology, with a specialization in Urban Studies, Att. Hirabayashi went on to earn his Law Degree from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. One can connect the dots to see how Att. Hirabayashi’s early love for exploring different cultures coming together to form a single society is actually a macrocosm of the work he does now, which is to find responsible adults and match them with children to form a complete, loving family.
HW: “So, how great is your job?”
ATTORNEY MARK HIRABAYASHI: “I have to admit it’s pretty great. Seeing the joy on the faces of these children who finally get the home they’ve been praying for – and the parents… Talk about people having gratitude. You know, when most people go to see a lawyer, it’s usually because they have a “problem,” so they’re really not all that thrilled to be seeing you in the first place, but with me, the couples I work with, there’s no place they’d rather be than with me.”
HW: “Now, in addition to the cases you work on with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, you handle numerous types of adoptions such as Intercountry, Adult and Private; what are some situations that call for these various adoptions?”
ATT. HIRABAYASHI: “Well, let’s say that you’re working with an Intercountry adoption agency that finds a child for you in Russia, and you fly to Russia for the adoption, when you come back to Los Angeles, you would retain me to have your child legally adopted in the State of California, so, essentially, I’d be doing a re-adoption for you, which just gives your new family an added layer of legal protection. An Adult Adoption can occur when a step-parent wants to adopt their step-child, but the child is now over the age of 18, so, we have to treat it like an Adult Adoption. A common scenario for a Private Adoption is you know someone who’s pregnant, and you’ve made an arrangement with them to adopt their child; I would represent you in the adoption process and make sure that your legal rights, and the rights of your spouse, are protected.”
HW: “Actually, that’s a question I wanted to ask you: do prospective parents have to be married? "
ATT. HIRABAYASHI: “No, what’s important is that you can provide a stable, loving home for the child. So, I’ve had clients who were single; clients who were a living together, but not married. I’ve been hired by gay and lesbian couples and helped them with their adoptions. The bottom line is are your intentions honorable? Are you trustworthy and reliable? Can we depend on you to raise this child to the best of your ability? These are the questions that have to be answered because these children are precious; I have a huge responsibility to these kids. They’re depending on me to find the right home for them, and there’s no way I’m not going to let them down.”
(323) 722-7559 ADOPTION ATTORNEY MARK HIRABAYASHI