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Relevant Adoption Laws, Policies, and Legal Considerations
This section includes summaries of the legal issues involved in planning for, conducting, and finalizing any type of adoption, including consent to adoption and postadoption contact agreements between birth and adoptive families. It also includes and summaries of legal and court issues involved in adoption.
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Adoption and Child Welfare Lawsite
Provides child welfare and adoption law information for prospective adoptive parents, biological parents, adoption and child welfare lawyers, juvenile and family court judges, and child advocates.
Online Resources for State Child Welfare Law and Policy
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State Statutes |
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Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 472KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 33 pages |
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Provides links to websites where State statutes and regulations can be accessed and lists the parts of each State and territory's code that contain laws addressing child protection, child welfare, and adoption.
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Preadoption Laws: All types of adoption
Collection of Family Information About Adopted Persons, Birth Parents, and Adoptive Parents
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 184KB)
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| Year Published: |
2006 - 4 pages |
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Requirements for collecting information about persons involved in an adoption vary from State to State. Each State has laws that specify the kinds of information that may be collected and shared among the parties. State laws specify the persons or entities authorized to collect information. In most States, information about the child to be adopted and the child?s birth family is compiled by the child-placing agency or the department of social services. In some States, the court may designate another qualified person, such as a social worker or specially trained investigator, to complete the history of the birth family. In ...
Consent to Adoption
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 142KB)
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| Year Published: |
2007 - 7 pages |
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Reviews State laws that specify the persons who must consent to a child's adoption, time frames for consent, and guidelines for revocation of consent.
Court Jurisdiction and Venue for Adoption Petitions
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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Download (PDF - 166KB)
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| Year Published: |
2007 - 4 pages |
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Provides the laws that specify the appropriate State courts, by type and location, for handling adoption petitions.
Criminal Background Checks for Prospective Foster and Adoptive Parents
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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Download (PDF - 192KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 7 pages |
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All States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico have statutes or regulations requiring background investigations of prospective foster and adoptive parents and all adults residing in their households. In most States, the background investigation includes a check of Federal and State criminal records. Most States also require checks of child abuse and neglect registries. States may deny approval of a foster care license or adoption application if any adult in the household has been convicted of certain crimes.
Disclosure of Confidential Child Abuse and Neglect Records
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 114KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 4 pages |
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Summaries of statutes detailing the officials who may have access to confidential records and the circumstances under which information may be disclosed.
Regulation of Private Domestic Adoption Expenses
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway.
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Download (PDF - 178KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 6 pages |
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Nearly all States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories have enacted statutes that provide some regulation of the fees and expenses that adoptive parents are expected to pay when arranging an adoptive placement. Some of the fees and expenses that are typically addressed in the statutes are placement costs, such as agency fees; legal and attorney expenses for adoptive and birth parents; and some of the expenses of the birth mother during pregnancy. This briefing provides general information on birth parent expenses, agency fees and costs, use of an intermediary, and reporting adoption-related expenses to the court.
The Rights of Presumed (Putative) Fathers
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 136KB)
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| Year Published: |
2007 - 5 pages |
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Discusses the rights of the alleged fathers of children born out-of-wedlock and whether States have registries for such fathers.
Use of Advertising and Facilitators in Adoptive Placements
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 164KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 5 pages |
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Some people choose to adopt, and some birth parents choose to place their children for adoption, without the involvement of an agency. These placements are known as private placements or independent adoptions. Private placement is often preferred by people who want to adopt newborn infants domestically and utilize the services of an attorney or adoption services provider or manage the process more on their own. The challenge for prospective adoptive parents in a private placement is locating a child who is appropriate for their family or finding birth parents seeking to place their child for adoption. Some parents choose to ...
Who May Adopt, Be Adopted, or Place a Child for Adoption?
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 163KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 5 pages |
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This briefing reviews State laws regarding parties to an adoption. Statutes dealing with who may adopt, be adopted, and may place a child for adoption are identified for each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S Virgin Islands.
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Preadoption Laws: Adoption from foster care
Concurrent Planning for Permanency for Children
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 115KB)
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| Year Published: |
2007 - 4 pages |
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Reviews State laws that permit an agency to plan for another permanent placement for a child at the same time efforts are made to reunify the child with his or her family of origin.
Court Hearings for the Permanent Placement of Children
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 125KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 4 pages |
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Court hearings are used to review the status and determine the permanent placement of children who have been placed in out-of-home care, including foster care. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 (P.L. 105-89) amended title IV-E of the Social Security Act in an effort to provide added safety and permanency for children in foster placement. ASFA placed an emphasis on expediting and improving planning and decision-making for the permanent placement of children in the child welfare system.
Determining the Best Interests of the Child
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 194KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 5 pages |
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Whenever a court must make a determination as to the custody and/or placement of a child, or must decide on a petition for termination of parental rights, the court must weigh whether that decision will be in the best interests of the child. All States and Territories require that the child's best interests be considered whevever such decisions regarding a child's placement are made. This resource provides the factors that may be considered by the court when making a best interests detemination.
Grounds for Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 177KB)
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| Year Published: |
2007 - 4 pages |
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Reviews State laws that detail the specific circumstances that must be present when a court terminates the legal parent-child relationship.
A Guide to the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 as Amended by the Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996 (MEPA)
National Resource Center on Legal and Court Issues (1998)
Discusses provisions, common questions, and checklists for implementation of MEPA.
Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 183KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 4 pages |
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Reasonable efforts refer to efforts made by State social services agencies to provide the assistance and services needed to preserve and reunify families. Laws in all States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico require the provision of services that will assist families in remedying the conditions that brought the child and family into the child welfare system. The statutes in most States, however, use a broad definition of what constitutes reasonable efforts. Some commonly used terms associated with reasonable efforts include "family reunification," "family preservation," "family support," and "preventive services."
Standby Guardianship
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
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Download (PDF - 174KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 6 pages |
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This fact sheet defines the provisions of most standby guardian laws. Additionally, it broadly defines: how to establish a standby guardian, who can nominate a standby guardian, how the guardian s authority is activated, the involvement of the non-custodial parent, the relationship between authority of the parent and the standby, and withdrawing guardianship. The print version of this resource is current through July 2008.
Termination of Parental Rights
National Center for State Courts
Discusses issues surrounding termination of parental rights (TPR), differences in State laws, and links to how TPR cases are expedited in appellate courts.
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Postadoption legal issues
Intestate Inheritance Rights for Adopted Children
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
View
Download (PDF - 155KB)
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| Year Published: |
2009 - 3 pages |
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Leaving a will is the best way to ensure heirs or descendants may inherit from your estate. Issues of property distribution may arise when a birth parent or adoptive parent dies without making a valid will or without naming an heir to particular property (referred to as "intestacy"). In these cases, State law determines who may inherit from whom. Laws in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands specify an adopted child's rights of inheritance from and through the adoptive and birth parents. Current through March 2006.
Postadoption Contact Agreements Between Birth and Adoptive Families
| Series Title: |
State Statutes |
| Author(s): |
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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| Availability: |
View
Download (PDF - 168KB)
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| Year Published: |
2008 - 5 pages |
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Postadoption contact agreements, sometimes referred to as cooperative adoption or open adoption agreements, are arrangements that allow some kind of contact between a child's adoptive family and members of the child's birth family after the child's adoption has been finalized. These arrangements can range from informal, mutual understandings between the birth and adoptive families to written, formal contracts. Agreements for postadoption contact or communication have become more prevalent in recent years, due to several factors: -- There is wider recognition of the rights of birth parents to make choices for their children -- Many adoptions involve older children, such as ...
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