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Step-Parent Adoptions

This will require two parallel processes going on at essentially the same time.

The biological parents rights have to be terminated.  If they will consent to the adoption, it will make it easer, but that consent has to be witnessed by a county social worker who will have their own forms.  If they will not consent, then it is critical to make sure that the documents filed with the court have been drafted properly, and the biological parent must be personally served with those documents.  If they object, then the court will have to rule on the termination of their rights.  

Grounds for termination are abandonment (rebuttable presumed if no contact for a year or more), conviction of certain felonies and or failure to pay support for at least one year (which can also be rebutted with the right facts).

The other process is the adoption, which will involve it’s own investigation.  This normally is not a difficult part of the process.