Learn about the various ways you are able to adopt. There are quite a few various ways of bringing a child into your life, or validate your legal relationship with one, through adoption. Below is a breakdown on the various ways that adoption can work.
Agency Adoptions
Agency adoptions involves the placing of a child with adoptive parents through a public agency, or through a private agency authorized or governed by the state. Public agencies usually put children that have become wards of the state for reasons like an orphan, abandonment, or abuse. Privatized agencies are usually ran by charities or social service associations. Children that are placed through private agencies are typically brought to the agency by a parent and/or parents that have or are expecting a child they wish to give up for adoption.
Independent Adoptions
In private, or independent adoptions, no agency is involved in the adoption process. Many independent adoptions involve a straightforward arrangement between the biological parents and the adoptive parents, whereas others use a mediator like a lawyer, doctor, or clergyperson. For a lot of independent adoptions, whether or not a mediator gets involved, the adopting parents are going to usually hire a lawyer to deal with the court documents.
Identified Adoptions
Identified, or designated adoptions are ones in which the adoptive parents and the birth mother locate each other and then request that an adoption agency to take control of the remaining adoption processes. This process is a combination of an independent adoption and an agency adoption. Prospective adoptive parents forego the waiting lists that agencies have by locating the birth parent on their own, but they enjoy the benefits of the agency’s guidance services and knowledge with adoption legalities. Everyone might simply feel more comfortable when an agency is involved. Identified adoptions are possible to parents in the states – Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Delaware – that prohibit independent adoptions.
Stepparent Adoptions
In stepparent adoptions, a parent’s new spouse adopts the child the parent had with a prior partner. Stepparent adoption processes are less awkward than agency and/or independent adoption processes. The process is straightforward, particularly when the child’s other birth parent agrees to the adoption. If the other birth parent is inaccessible or when they refuse to agree to the adoption, there is more paperwork to be done and the adoptive parents may require a lawyer.
Same-Sex Adoptions
Regulations concerning same-sex couples vary by state. In the states that have some sort of acknowledgment for same-sex relationships, same-sex couples are able to adopt children together and one partner is able to adopt the child of the other partner. In many states, the adoption can be done under the simplified stepparent adoption processes, making it low-cost, fast, and easy.
Relative (Kinship) Adoptions
In relative adoptions, also referred to as kinship adoptions, a member of the child’s family steps in to adopt. Grandparents usually adopt their grandchildren when their parents pass away while the children are still minors, or when the parents can’t take care of the children for other reasons (like being incarcerated or taking drugs). In a lot of states, these adoptions are more straightforward than non-relative adoptions. When the adopted child has siblings that aren’t adopted at the same time, kinship adoption processes usually provide for contact between the siblings following the adoption.
Adult Adoptions
In a lot of states, it’s legal for one adult to adopt another adult individual provided that there’s at a minimum of a ten-year age variance and those involved are able to demonstrate why the adoption is in both parties’ interests and the public interest. Usually, these adoptions are step-parent adoptions that the family didn’t accomplish when the young person was still a minor, but wants to finish in order to guarantee inheritance rights. Occasionally, older adults that don’t have their own children meet younger individuals that they wish to treat as their children for inheritance intentions. There are safeguards in place in in a lot of states requiring supervision of adult adoptions in which caregivers of the elderly are engaged, in order to hinder elder financial mistreatment.
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Nolo. (2011, October 10). Types of adoption. www.nolo.com. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/types-of-adoption-30282.html
Adoption Lawyer in Arizona
Have questions about adoptions in Arizona? Speak with our Adoption Attorney today! An experienced family law attorney will work with you to obtain the best possible outcome in your situation. We advocate for our clients so they have the brightest future possible. Give us a call today at 480-999-0800 for a free consultation.
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