My Choice Adoptions

Meet Melanie

Adoption Attorney

I was born and raised in Tallahassee, where I still live with daughter, mini horse, pig, chickens and goats! I love gardening, spending time with my family and animals, going to the beach and reading.

At an early age I realized that I had an interest in the law. As I grew older I realized my passion for children’s rights. I attended college at Florida State University, working as a preschool teacher to support myself while in school. After graduation in 1996, I worked at several jobs that were just not as fulfilling as I had hoped. I knew I needed to work at something I had a passion for to be fulfilled in my career. In 2003, I applied for and was accepted into law school at FSU. I was quite a bit older than my peers at age thirty!

During my last year of law school, I had the opportunity to practice as an intern for the Gadsden county public defender’s office where I represented all kinds of people facing difficult situations. I found that the cases that affected me the most were those involving children. I knew I had to use my education and talents to help children like these have a better life. ​I graduated with honors in 2003 from FSU college of law and soon started my legal career.

I worked for several years for both small and large firms, gaining experience and learning mostly what I did not want to do. I was recruited by the Department of Children and families to serve as Assistant General Counsel for the Family Safety Program. Boy was that an eye opener! I learned so much during the years that I worked for the Department. But I also learned what a broken system we have and that children and families deserve much, much better.

In 2013, I started my own law practice focusing on children’s issues. In particular, helping children in foster care find their forever families through public adoption. I found it to be the most rewarding work I could ever have imagined! It became obvious to me after seeing so many abused and neglected children in the dependency system, that families needed to know what their options were when it came to deciding whether or not they could successfully parent their children. I learned all I could about private adoption law and soon added this to my list of services.

In 2018, God sent me Marilu Allewelt. It was a perfect match! We joined forces officially in January, 2019 and have been working hard to spread the word about the benefits of private adoption to families in crisis. So here we are! Let us serve you!

Melanie Coats
Adoption Attorney