A very important step in becoming an adoptive parent is the finalization of your adoption. Some adoptive parents skip this step, which is a very bad idea. Until your adoption finalization is completed, you are not your child’s legal parents.
In order to finalize an adoption, you need to comply with the laws in your state. Most states require you to have a specified number of post-placement visits from a social worker. These are home visits in which the social worker checks in to see how the family is adjusting to its new addition. For me, those visits were enjoyable because I was able to “show off” my beautiful baby.
To finalize the adoption, you will need to submit certain paperwork to a courthouse in your state. Some of the papers that need to be filed with the court include the following:
- Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) paperwork – for adoptions involving more than one state
- Reports by the social worker
- Termination of parental rights
The agency or adoption attorney should take care of filing these papers for you.
After the court reviews the paperwork, it will issue an adoption decree declaring that you are your child’s legal parents. In some states, you will need to go to the courthouse for a finalization hearing. In others, you will receive the decree in the mail with no fanfare. Regardless of how it happens, this paper is significant because it declares to the world that you are your child’s legal parents.
At the finalization hearing, your child’s name will be legally changed. After the hearing, you will have a birth certificate issued with your names listed as the child’s parents.
What happens if you fail to finalize an adoption? The worst-case scenario is that you could lose your child. According to our agency, most of the high profile cases in the news in which a child was ripped out of his adoptive home after several years were situations in which the adoptive parents had not finalized the adoption. The reason for an adoption hearing is for the judge to go over the paperwork and make sure that there was due process of law when the birthparents’ parental rights were terminated. If this step is never taken, then any violations of the birthparents’ rights could come to light years after the child is placed into your home.
As for international adoptions, whether or not the adoption needs to be finalized in the United States is determined by the laws in each country. Be sure to research the requirements for the country from which you adopt to determine whether finalization is necessary.
Related Topics:
- Adoption Finalization
- Adoption ABCs – Paperwork for after your int. adoption
- Adoption ABCs – Paperwork for domestic adoption
- Post Adoption Paperwork
- What is Adoption?
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