Adoption Legal Answers

Do you need biological father’s consent to adopt his child?

A friend of my husband and I from our church has a teenage daughter who is pregnant. She does not want to keep the child and we are very interested in adopting the baby. The mom-to-be does not have any contact with the biological father and does not even know where he lives at this point. There has never been a paternity test but she says she’s sure he is the father. If he’s never formally been identified as the father and she can’t locate him, do we need his consent to proceed with an adoption once the child is born? If we do, how do we go about finding him and what exactly does the consent need to say? We live just outside of San Antonio and she thinks he is possibly living out of state. Can a lawyer help us get the consent?

Phoenix, AZ

Mar 15, 2021

Do my boyfriend and I have to be married to adopt a child?

My boyfriend and I have been together 8 years and want to adopt. I can’t have kids of my own and I’ve been married once before and it ended in an ugly divorce. I don’t want to get married again, and my boyfriend is fine with that, but we do want to raise children together. I have started researching adoption options but it appears that we might need to be married before the California Department of Social Services will let us adopt. Someone mentioned to me that it might be possible to adopt if my boyfriend and I are registered domestic partners. If we live in the Sacramento area, is it true we have to be married? If so, will a domestic partnership allow us to adopt and how do we go about registering as domestic partners?

Sacramento, CA

Mar 15, 2021

How can my adopted daughter find her birth mother?

My adopted daughter is now 17 years old and for several years has been expressing an interest in finding her birth mother, and possibly whatever other relatives she can locate. She has had a lot of health problems and thinks knowing more about her genetics and bio family medical history might be helpful. We have a very good relationship and I want to help her do whatever she can to find them. What are the laws in San Diego relating to opening adoption records, and does anything change once my daughter turns 18?

San Diego, CA

Mar 15, 2021

Do we need a lawyer for an international adoption?

My wife and I live in Indianapolis and want to adopt a child but have found that the waiting period to adopt children here in the U.S. is very long. We’ve found an agency that handles child adoptions from Croatia and the waiting period is much shorter. They have lawyers who work with the agency, but my wife and I are wondering if we need our own attorney to handle the paperwork and make sure everything is in order. Should we use the agency attorneys or get an independent attorney and if so, how much does it usually cost for an attorney to do an international adoption?

Indianapolis, IN

Mar 15, 2021

Do you need an attorney to adopt a child from the state?

My husband and I are interested in adopting an older child. We live in Dalla and we’ve located several children on the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange who might be available for adoption. If we pursue one of those children, will the state represent us or do we need our own attorney? Does Texas offer any adoption subsidies or assistance if we adopt an older child with special needs? We are also told that a child of a certain age has to consent to the adoption. If they don’t want to be adopted, is it possible we could take custody without a formal adoption? And if we do need a lawyer, how do we locate one with experience in state adoptions or custody?

Dallas, TX

Mar 15, 2021

What if the bio mom doesn’t consent to a stepparent adoption?

My stepdaughter is 19 years old and I’ve been in her life since she was 4. Her father did drugs and was in and out of her life. At this point, we have no idea where he even is, could be in jail. My wife and I have talked for years about me adopting my stepdaughter. Because her bio dad always said he’d fight it, we never pursued it. Now that he’s been out of the picture for several years, we are considering it again, and my stepdaughter wants the adoption. Does it matter if we can’t find her father to see if he’ll consent or, if we do locate him, what happens if he objects? Does it make a difference that she’s now over 18?

Houston, TX

Mar 15, 2021

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