The California Family Code defines adoption as a legal procedure that establishes a long-term parent-child bond between individuals who are not biologically related to each other. The adoption establishes a relationship with the same rights, responsibilities, and protections as a biological family once it is finalized. California has several types of adoption that have distinct legal provisions aimed at ensuring the best interests of the child and providing clear direction to the adopting family. It is essential to understand the various alternatives and their legal basis so that you can proceed through the process with confidence. It also helps you select the path that best suits your family’s needs and goals. Read along to understand how each of the different types of adoption functions and what you need to do to have a complete family.
Agency Adoption
An agency adoption is a systematic and guided path to becoming a parent. Under this method, a licensed adoption agency handles all the steps involved in the process, including assessing potential parents and fulfilling all necessary legal procedures. The agencies act as the main point of contact between the adoptive parents and birth parents and the court system in such a way that all adoptions are morally and legally upright.
One of the most popular and reliable types of adoption in California is agency adoption. Many families prefer it because it offers a clear guideline, professional assistance, and systematic guidance at each step. The agency is mandated to handle the emotional and administrative aspects of the adoption process, assuring families that the process can be complex and emotionally challenging.
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) licenses and regulates all adoption agencies in the state of California. This supervision ensures that agencies operate with high ethical and legal standards. Their services typically involve:
- Adoptive and birth parent counseling
- Adoptive parenting preparation training for parents
- Corresponding services that consider the interests of everyone
- Liaison with social workers, attorneys, and the courts
- Documentation and filing services
- Continued post-placement supervision and counseling
Agency adoption provides a full-service model, which includes professional advice from the initial interview until the finalization hearing.
Foster Care Adoption
Foster Care Adoption (public agency adoption) enables you to adopt a child who is part of the foster care system in California. They are children whose rights to their biological parents have been terminated in court due to abuse, neglect, or failure to take care of them.
Children in the foster system range from infants to teenagers. Some are part of sibling groups, while others have special medical or emotional needs. All of them need what foster care cannot fully provide: a permanent, loving home.
Helping Children Move Toward a Permanent Home
California’s foster-care system operates under a model known as concurrent planning. This implies that, although there is an attempt to reunite the children with their birth families, social services are ready if the child has to be adopted. The parents receive resources and time to correct the issues that led to the removal of the children. However, if they do not address these issues within the court's time limit, they will automatically be allowed to be adopted.
Becoming a Resource Family
Before adopting through a public agency, you should be approved as a Resource Family. Resource Family Approval (RFA) is a comprehensive approval process that encompasses foster and adoptive care. It involves background checks, training, interviews, and an in-depth home study. This test assesses your ability to provide a secure and supportive home environment.
Affordability and Support
Foster care adoption is typically the most affordable option. The state usually covers most expenses, and adoptive parents can receive financial assistance through the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP).
This program offers monthly financial assistance and, in certain instances, medical benefits to children with special needs. The aim is to ensure that families possess the necessary resources to support their child emotionally, medically, and developmentally.
By adopting a child through a public agency, families can make a significant impact by offering a child permanence, love, and stability that they greatly require.
Private Agency Adoption
The adoption of an infant by a private agency is a well-established alternative for individuals who wish to adopt a baby. These agencies are privately funded but should also be licensed by the state. They deal with expectant parents who make an adoption plan voluntarily.
The Role of the Birth Mother
In the majority of the private agency adoptions, the birth mother is central and empowered. She looks through well-crafted profiles of potential adoptive families, typically well-designed books or online portfolios that provide information about the family's home, values, and lifestyle. This helps her select the family she believes is most suitable for her baby.
Agency Services and Costs
Private agencies provide comprehensive services to support birth parents and adoptive parents. Professional and impartial counseling is offered to expectant parents, enabling them to make a fully informed and voluntary decision. For adoptive parents, the agencies provide training, emotional support, matching and placement guidance, as well as legal advice.
Adoptions by private agencies are more costly than those by the government since the adoptive parents pay the agency fees (to cover counseling, training, and case management) and the medical and legal costs of the birth mother. There are also instances where you can cover state-approved living expenses in the course of her pregnancy.
The Relinquishment Process
Once the baby is born, the birth parents should relinquish their parental rights. In California, this can occur only after the birth mother has been discharged from the hospital. After signing the legal forms, the decision can be withdrawn within a short time. The relinquishment is then permanent and irrevocable. These are sensitive steps taken by private agencies to ensure that all legal aspects are adhered to and the parties are emotionally supported throughout the process.
Independent Adoption
Another route to parenthood is independent (or direct) adoption, in which you and the birth parents arrange the adoption without agency involvement. After birth, the infant is typically placed in your arms, usually at the hospital.
Independent adoption is favored by families who want a more personal process or have an attachment to the birth parents. However, it is less legally complex and requires the services of qualified specialists to ensure compliance with California laws related to adoption.
The Legal Steps for Independent Adoption
You and the birth parents need to have different, independent counsel. Your lawyer will prepare the adoption petition and take you through the process. The lawyer representing the birth parents informs you of their rights and ensures that their consent is informed and voluntary.
It should also have a neutral Adoption Service Provider (ASP). This professional will sit with the birth parents to discuss the procedure and will be present during the signing of the Adoption Placement Agreement, which is the legal document that finalizes their consent to the adoption.
Final Steps After Birth Parents Give Consent
After the baby is born, the birth parents are given a limited period of time to revoke their consent once they have signed the agreement. After this window passes, their decision becomes final. You will then undergo a home study, which is an assessment of your suitability as a parent to adopt the child. You will be taking post-placement visits with a social worker who will make sure that the child is safe in your care.
When all the reports and legal procedures are complete, the adoption is finalized in court, and you are officially granted the full parental rights. Independent adoption is often very personal and gratifying, though it should be approached with extreme legal care.
Adoption by Step-Parents
Stepparent adoption enables you, as the spouse or domestic partner of a child's biological or adoptive parent, to adopt the child as a legal parent. This is a legal process that establishes a bond that is already in place, providing the family with emotional and legal security.
Upon completion, the child is granted equal legal status to a biological child, with the right to inherit and be named on insurance or other legal documents. It also provides you with the complete right to decide on the child's education, healthcare, and welfare.
Understanding Parental Rights in Stepparent Adoption
The primary legal issue in stepparent adoptions is the loss of rights by the non-custodial parent. This is easy when the parent in question agrees to the adoption. However, when they are not found, or refuse to give their consent, or have deserted the child, you may apply to the court to have their rights involuntarily terminated.
The California legislation defines abandonment as the lack of contact and financial assistance for at least one year. The evidence is examined in court, and if the judge concurs, parental rights are terminated, allowing the adoption to proceed.
The process of Step-parent Adoption
The stepparent adoption process is less demanding and shorter than other adoptions. A social worker makes an investigation, but the formal home study can be waived. After all the requirements are fulfilled, the court conducts a brief hearing where the adoption is finalized and your family is legally recognized as a single entity.
Relative (Kinship) Adoption
Relative or kinship adoption allows family members to adopt children who are biologically related to them, typically grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and other close relatives. This type of adoption offers permanence and stability to children who are no longer able to live with their birth parents because of illness, death, addiction, imprisonment, or other misfortunes.
The California legislation is highly inclined towards keeping children in their extended families as long as possible. The preservation of those bonds helps maintain the child's identity, heritage, and sense of belonging, thereby reducing trauma.
Purpose and Process
Kinship adoption establishes a permanent parent-child relationship as opposed to guardianship, which is temporary and may be revoked. Adoption breaks the legal rights of birth parents and creates new ones for the adoptive relatives.
The process begins with the filing of a petition in court and addressing the rights of birth parents. They can voluntarily agree to it if they are willing to do so. The court may end their rights if they are not available or do not want to do so.
A large number of kinship adoptions begin in the dependency court system, where the child has been placed with relatives under foster care. In kinship cases, the home study is often simplified, focusing on the family's capacity to provide a safe and loving home.
This route is usually easier and quicker than adoptions where the individuals are not related, which is an aspect of California that places importance on family cohesion whenever possible.
International Adoption
International adoption (also known as intercountry adoption) is a way of adopting a child from a different country. This is done to help provide homes to children in other countries and to enable families to expand beyond their borders and cultures.
Nevertheless, international adoption is one of the most complicated areas in terms of laws, as it involves the combination of laws from various jurisdictions, including California, U.S. federal law, the country where the child was born, and international treaties.
The Hague Convention and Law Requirements
To undertake an international adoption, it is recommended that you work with a Hague-approved adoption service provider. The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption establishes global guidelines of transparency, ethics, and child protection. It deters child trafficking, and all adoptions are in the best interest of the child.
The process begins with a home study and the submission of Form I-800A to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which confirms your eligibility. You then create a dossier, that is, a bundle of verified documents, which is forwarded to the country of the child. Authorities there go through it and pair you with a legally available child that can be adopted.
You will visit the child's home country on various occasions, some of which may last several weeks, to fulfill the local legal formalities. Then, your child will need to obtain a U.S. visa to enter the country.
Readoption in California
After bringing your child home to California, you will usually need to complete a readoption or have the foreign adoption validated in state court. This confirms the adoption’s legal status in the U.S. and allows you to obtain a California birth certificate, which is essential for school, healthcare, and citizenship records.
The process of international adoption is long and requires patience, organization, and commitment; however, for most, it is a highly rewarding experience that brings people of different cultures together and forms lifelong families.
Adult Adoption
California also permits adult adoption. Adult adoption enables one adult to adopt another, typically formalizing a long-standing relationship, such as that between a foster child and a stepparent, or a foster parent and an adult foster child.
Legal and Emotional Benefits of Adult Adoption
In addition to emotional benefits, adult adoption has legal benefits. It provides inheritance privileges whereby the adopted individual is accorded the same status as a natural child. It is also a source of security to adults with disabilities, which guarantees long-term care and guardianship.
Adult adoption is a straightforward procedure: both parties agree, sign an adoption agreement, and, in the case of married individuals, obtain the consent of their spouses. Home study is not required. The court receives the petition, and then a brief hearing is held. The adoption is finalized after the judge gives their approval.
Adult adoptions usually require a few months and offer profound emotional closure and legal acknowledgement of adopted family ties.
Understanding Open vs. Closed Adoption
You will also choose an open or closed adoption arrangement, regardless of the type of adoption you select. These terms refer to the level of communication and information exchange between the birth and adoptive families after the adoption has been finalized.
A closed adoption is totally confidential; there is no contact or identification between the two families. This was formerly the practice, but is not so widespread now.
An open adoption enables constant communication, which may involve:
- Letters
- Photographs
- Telephone calls
- Video calls
- Face-to-face visits
Most experts think open adoption is good, as it allows children to know their roots and stay in touch with their biological parents.
The degree of contact in California is formalizable by means of a Post-Adoption Contact Agreement. This is a legally binding document that outlines the type and frequency of contact between the parties. Courts can impose the terms, and the violation does not nullify the adoption. Open adoptions also ensure transparency and trust between the families, allowing the children to grow up with a better understanding of their identity.
Find an Efficient Family Law Attorney Near Me
Choosing an adoption path is a personal decision based on your family’s goals, resources, and situation. California has its own legal requirements and procedures for every type of adoption, including the process of adopting an infant privately or the process of adopting as a stepparent. This is aimed at safeguarding the best interests of the child and providing a safe family environment. This process should be carefully planned and detailed, with a clear understanding of your rights and obligations. You do not have to face the adoption process alone; experienced legal counsel can make it more manageable and secure. At the San Diego Family Law Attorney, our lawyers provide family-centered assistance to help families work through their adoption process in a professional and caring manner. Contact us at 619-610-7425 to receive professional help or discuss your case and get help moving forward in creating your family.
