Meet Our Caring and Experienced Attorney

     Susan Garner Eisenman is an attorney with a concentration in adoption and child welfare law. Her practice includes confidential adoptions, semi-open and open adoptions. She also counsels individuals with pre- and post-adoption issues. Attorney Eisenman has been actively involved in the area of adoption for over 45 years. She helped found Resolve of Ohio and New Roots - Adoptive Families Support Group. She is a frequent speaker on adoption topics to professional, community and triad groups and has appeared on local and national television and radio programs.

     Attorney Eisenman is the convener of the Ohio Adoption Law Roundtable- a group of fellows whose practices focus on adoption. They meet regularly as a group to track changes and trends in adoption law. They lobby adoption legislation in the Ohio legislature as well as tax law changes in Washington. They write Amicus Briefs in adoption law cases. 

     Additionally, Ms. Eisenman is a fellow and former board member of the American Academy of Adoption and Reproductive Technology Attorneys. Attorney Eisenman has served on the special needs/foster care committee for 20 years. 

     Attorney Eisenman is an adoptive parent herself. Her extended family includes children who have joined the family through step-parent adoption, foreign adoption, trans-racial adoption, gamete donation/ARTS.
International Adoption — Attorney Susan Garner Eisenman in Columbus, OH

Presentations and Cases of Note

2023

Inflation and the Management of the Law Office   —  January 2023, Columbus, Ohio

Contested Adoptions 101   —  January 2023, Columbus, Ohio

Adoption Subsidies/Adoption Grants   —  October 2023, Hocking Hills, Ohio

Representing Parents Post PCC   —  September 2023, Columbus, Ohio

Placements and Parties   —  December 2023, Columbus, Ohio


2022

Eight Things I Learned at the AAAA Annual Meeting    —  May 2022, Virtual

The Origins of Adoption Law   —  October 2022, Columbus, Ohio


2020

Dangers of Social Media  — Loss of privacy, Bogus Evidence, & Fraudulent fundraising  —  October 2020, Columbus, Ohio

Homestudies – Criminal Records, Abuse/Neglect Registry, Due Process Hearings — February 2020, Worthington, Ohio

Disqualification of Judges: A Dangerous Option — December 2020, Columbus, Ohio


2019

G is for Grandma — September 2019, Cedar Falls, OH — Grandparents custody adoptions
Update on Ohio Adoption Cases — Court of Appeals & Supreme Court cases (2018-2019) — J. Liu - Worthington


2018

Update on Ohio Adoption Cases (01/01/18 to 08/01/18) — Inn at Honey Run, September 2018
Adoption in a Time of Opioids — Issues & Concerns — Worthington Inn, December 2018
Military Adoptions, esp. Stepparent Adoptions — J. Liu - Worthington, February 2018


2017

Representing Older, Single Parents in ARTS Proceedings

Recent Adoption Law Rules Changes — Three Rules and a Caution

Assisted Reproduction Technology — 10 Things I Learned at the AAAA Meeting in Anaheim


SUPREME COURT OF OHIO / AMICUS BRIEFS

State ex rel. Schrader v. Bender, 2023-Ohio-641 (2023)

State ex rel. Davis v. Kennedy, Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-1593 (2023)

In the Matter of the Adoption of H.P. (2022)

In the Matter of the Adoption of M.S.A. (2017)

In the Matter of the Adoption of P.L.H. (2017)

In the Matter of the Adoption of H.N.R. (2015)

In the Matter of the Adoption of G.V. (2010)

In the Matter of the Adoption of P.A.C. (2009)

In the Matter of the Adoption of Jimenez (2000)

In the Matter of the Adoption of Asente (2000)


COURT OF APPEALS

In the Adoption of A.B., 2020-Ohio-1090, (3rd District)

In the Adoption of T.L.S., 2012-0hio-3129, (12th District)

In the Adoption of T.S., 2007-Ohio-5900 (12th District)

J.S. v. Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, 2006-Ohio-2611, (10th District)

In the Adoption of Geis, 2005-Ohio-4378 (7th District)

In the Adoption of Baby F., 2004 Ohio 1871 (10th District)

In the Matter of the Adoption of Baby Doe, 2004 Ohio 689, (10th District)

T.M.G. v. Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, 2004-Ohio-2168, (10th District)

In the Matter of the Adoption of Lichtenberg, 2003 Ohio 1014 (12th District)

In the Matter of Mercy Anne G., 2007 Ohio 1197, (6th District)


SURROGACY

Ms. Eisenman was a charter member of the American Academy of Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. She represents both families and surrogates. She helps draft donor and surrogacy agreements, adoptions, and parentage actions. Ms. Eisenman has testified before the Ohio legislation on ARTS bills. She was the drafter of Chapter R. C. 3111 (Ohio Artificial Donor Law).


Affiliations

  • Certified Open Adoption Practitioner
  • Certified Family Mediator
  • Fellow, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys
  • Recipient of the Angel Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption
  • Lecturer, National Association for Open Education,
  • Lecturer, North American Council on Adoptable Children
  • Recipient of The North American Council on Adoptable Children Award for Adoption Advocacy

  • Chairperson, Ohio Adoption Law Roundtable
  • Lecturer, Ohio Continuing Legal Education Institute (Adoption Law Issues) 
  • Fellow, Ohio State Bar College
  • Member, Ohio State Bar Association
  • Fellow, Ohio State Bar Association Foundation
  • Member, Columbus Bar Association
  • Fellow, Columbus Bar Association Foundation
  • Member, Women Lawyers of Franklin County

Education

  • Ohio State Bar College, Continuing Legal Education, 1980s to present
  • The Ohio State University, College of Law, Juris Doctorate, Cum Laude, 1973
  • The Ohio State University, College of Humanities, Bachelor of Arts, 1971

Community Involvement

  • Member, New Roots Adoptive Families Support Group
  • Lecturer, Adoption Basic Workshops; Co-Sponsored by Nationwide Childrens Hospital 

Publications

  • Who has Jurisdiction? An alternative path to permanency, Ohio Lawyer Magazine, June/May 2017.
  • Adoption Law: H.B. 419 & Related Issues, Reference Manual, Vol. 96-29, Ohio CLE Institute, 1996.
  • Family Law Update 1996, Reference Manual, Vol. 96-06, Ohio CLE Institute, 1996
  • Ohio Adoption Law: Nuts 'N Bolts of Step-Parent Adoption, Reference Manual, Vol. 95-43, Ohio CLE Institute, 1995.
  • Adoption Law: Issues, Ethics and Practice, Reference Manual, Vol. 92-48, Ohio CLE Institute, 1992.
  • Adoption - New Law and Trends, Reference Manual, Vol. 215, Ohio CLE Institute, 1990.
  • Adoption in Ohio, Legal Education Institute, Inc. 1989.
  • Fathers, Biological and Anonymous, and Other Legal Strangers: Determinations of Parentage and Artificial Insemination by Donor Under Ohio Law, Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 45, no. 2 (1984) 


Attorney Eisenman is also a nationally published poet under the pen name E. Van Clef. Her poetry has appeared in the National Resolve Newsletter, Adopter's Advocate, and Children of Open Adoption.

  • Member, Local Church, Lakeside Chatauqua, Lake Erie, Reading Groups
For more information, or to schedule a consultation with Attorney Eisenman, call us at 614-326-1200.