Georgia Adoption Law Blog

Stepparent Adoption Factsheet for Families

Introduction

The most common form of adoption is that of children by stepparents. In these situations the adopting stepparent assumes financial and legal responsibility for his/her spouse's child or children and releases the noncustodial parent of parental responsibilities, including child support.

This factsheet discusses legal issues in stepparent adoptions and how to proceed.

Legal Issues

State laws on stepparent adoptions vary. Most States have a streamlined process for adoptions by stepparents whereby the judge hearing the adoption petition has the ability to dispense with the requirement in State laws for an adoption home study. Some States, however, will not approve a stepparent adoption unless the custodial parent has been married to the stepparent for 1 year or longer.

When a stepparent wishes to adopt a stepchild, the child's parents (the stepparent's spouse and the noncustodial or absent parent) are usually both required to consent to that adoption. In consenting to an adoption, the noncustodial parent relinquishes all parental rights and responsibilities, including child support. If the noncustodial parent objects to the proposed adoption and refuses to consent to it, State laws may prevent the adoption from proceeding.

Some State adoption laws specify special circumstances under which the noncustodial parent's consent is not required. Other States have made special provisions in their adoption laws to allow stepparent adoptions to occur, even over the objections of the noncustodial parent, in cases where the noncustodial parent has failed to maintain communication with the child for a specified period of time.

Stepparent Adoptions

In a stepparent adoption you need to get the consent of the birth parent or have the birth parent's rights terminated.

In most states, a stepparent adoption is much easier to complete than a nonrelative adoption. The procedure is generally the same as for other types of adoption, but specific steps are sometimes waived or streamlined. For instance, the waiting period, a home study, and even the adoption hearing are sometimes dispensed with in a stepparent adoption. The only difficult step may be getting the other birth parent to consent to the adoption.

Getting Consent

In all stepparent adoptions, the child's other birth parent will need to consent to the adoption because he or she is the other legally recognized parent. If the other birth parent refuses to consent, the adoption will not be allowed unless his or her parental rights are terminated for some other reason -- abandonment, unfitness, or failure to support the child, for example.

It may be difficult to get the consent of the other birth parent, because giving consent to the adoption means giving up all parental rights, including any right to visit the child or make decisions regarding issues such as medical treatment or education. Of course, some birth parents are willing to consent to stepparent adoptions because they agree that it's in the child's interest--or because they will no longer be responsible for child support once their parental rights are terminated.