CHAPTER SEVEN

Adoption

An unmarried eighteen-year-old woman becomes pregnant and wants to place the child for adoption. After the child is adopted, she also would like to know how the child is doing and maybe have contact with the child. What are her options?

Each year in the United States, there are approximately 127,000 adoptions. The federal government divides adoptions into three categories: (1) private agency, kinship, and tribal adoptions (this includes adoption by stepparents); (2) public agency adoptions; and (3) intercountry adoptions. The adoptions involving private agencies, relatives, and Indian tribes is the largest category—with 46 percent of all adoptions—although the proportion of such adoptions compared to all adoptions has dropped over the last ten years. Public agency adoptions account for 39 percent of adoptions, and intercountry adoptions make up the remaining 15 percent, with approximately 19,000 intercountry adoptions per year by persons living in the United States.

Related Adoptions

Related adoptions are comparatively simple, assuming that no one objects to the adoption. One of the most common types of adoptions is by a stepfather or stepmother. If the biological parent whom the stepfather or stepmother will be “replacing” is living and consents, there should be no problem. If he or she does not consent, the child cannot be adopted unless a court first finds that the biological parent is unfit or other exceptional circumstances exist.

The definition of unfitness varies from state to state, but it normally includes not only parents who have been abusive, neglectful, or convicted of serious crimes, but also parents who failed to have regular contact with their children and support them.

If a stepparent who adopted a child and the biological parent later obtain a divorce, the divorce does not affect the adoption. The stepparent continues to have all the rights and responsibilities of a biological parent, including a right to seek custody or visitation and a duty to support the child.

Similarly, an adopted child has all the rights of a biological child, including the right to inherit. If the child’s adoptive parent leaves a will providing for his or her “children” without naming the individual children, the adopted child would be treated the same as a biological child. If an adoptive parent died without leaving a will, the adoptive child would receive the same share of inheritance under state law as a biological child would receive. In addition, an adopted child is entitled to the same family insurance benefits and Social Security benefits (in the event of the adopted parent’s death or disability) as a biological child.

Adoption procedures usually involve filing a written petition requesting the adoption, notifying persons who would be affected by the adoption (including the biological parents if they are alive), and appearing in court for a hearing. If the child is above a certain age (such as twelve), the child’s consent also may be necessary.

Unrelated Adoptions

Unrelated adoptions (in which the person adopting the child is not related to the child or to the child’s other parent) usually require more paperwork and more time to complete. Unrelated adoptions generally are of one of two types: an agency adoption or a private adoption.

Agency Adoptions

In agency adoptions, as the name implies, the parents work though a licensed agency. The agency often supervises the care of biological mothers who are willing to place  their children for adoption, and then  assists in the placement of children after birth. Agencies screen adoptive parents--often extensively--before the adoption proceeds. Some agencies have long waiting lists of parents. Some agencies also specialize in placing children born in foreign countries.

Agencies  are licensed and regulated by the state. Agencies often offer counseling or support services to the adoptive family or to the biological parents after completion of the adoption.

Private Adoptions

Private adoptions bypass the use of agencies, and they may help bypass the long waiting lists as well. Private adoptions are available in most states, but not all.

The process of private adoptions may begin when people who seek to adopt a child contact an attorney who specializes in adoptions. The attorney may work with physicians who are aware of women willing to place their children for adoption. Sometimes would-be parents will place ads in newspapers or on the internet seeking women who are willing to place their babies for adoption. The ads might be placed by the adoptive parents directly or the ads might be placed by their attorney.

In most states, adoptive parents are allowed to pay a biological mother's medical expenses and certain other costs during the pregnancy. But adoptive parents are not allowed to pay the biological mother specifically to place a child for adoption.. The law treats this as a “black market adoption”--the buying and selling of children--and it's a crime in every state.

Court procedures vary from state to state, but in all states court approval is necessary for both agency and private adoptions. Many states also require that the adoptive parents be approved by a social service agency.

Private adoptions are more complicated than unrelated adoptions. It is very important that proper consent be obtained from the biological parents. (That issue is discussed in the next two sections.) Assistance from an attorney in the state in which the adoption will take place is advisable.

• Consents
• Foreign Adoptions
• Interracial Adoptions
• Single parent adoptions
• Adoption by lesbian or gay couples
• Open Adoption
• Adoption Records
• Legal Action for “Wrongful Adoption”