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What Adoptive Parents Need to Know About NC Adoption Laws

Experience Matters. Mills Adoption Law has helped our community for over 35 years with adoptions and family law. Put our experience to work for you.

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Defining Adoption in North Carolina

As Raleigh adoption attorneys know, North Carolina adoption is the legal process of terminating the rights of birth parents to place the child with an adoptive family. Once finalized, adoptions establish the legal parental rights of the adopting parents.

Depending on the circumstances, the legal processes involved in adoption can include:

Giving children new opportunities for a better life with adoptive families
Terminating the parental rights of a child’s biological parents
Giving a relative or a step-parent legal parenting rights to raise the child responsibly
Permitting a child over 12 to choose adoption by a prospective adoptive parent

Types of Adoption in North Carolina

Domestic Infant Adoption

This type involves adopting a newborn or very young child within the United States. It often includes working with agencies or attorneys to match prospective parents with a birth family. With the exception of stepparents and placements between close relatives, most adoptions require adoptive parents to complete adoption home studies and comply with legal requirements governing consent from the biological mother and biological father.

Step Parent Adoption

Step parent adoptions allow spouses to obtain the legal rights of parents over their partners’ children. The stepparent adoption process usually requires the consent of the child’s non-custodial biological parent, or the termination of their parental rights if unable to obtain their consent.

Relative Adoptions (Kinship Adoptions)

This type of adoption occurs when a relative, such as a grandparent, aunt, or uncle, legally adopts a child in their family. As an adoption attorney can attest, people pursue this kind of adoption when birth parents cannot care for the child, to provide the child with a sense of continuity and familiarity.

Foster Care Adoption

This adoption type involves adopting a child from the foster system who has become legally free for adoption. It often includes older children or children who are part of sibling groups. Adoptive parents must meet state requirements and undergo appropriate training.

Independent Adoption

An independent adoption is arranged directly between the birth parents and adoptive parents, often with the assistance of an adoption attorney. Although it bypasses an adoption agency, this type of adoption still requires compliance with state law, including a comprehensive home study and evaluation process.

Gay & LGBTQ Adoption

In North Carolina, same-sex couples can adopt children through the same processes, with the same requirements, as heterosexual couples.

Interstate Adoption

Raleigh adoption lawyers know that when clients adopt children from another state, it is an interstate adoption, which has special requirements. Any parent who wants to adopt a child from another state must obtain permission from that state before they leave with the child. Parents must also obtain permission from the receiving state – in this case, North Carolina – before returning home with the child. After both states approve, the child can leave their former state of residence and go home with their adoptive parents.

Interstate adoptions must follow the rules in the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), the purpose of which is to ensure appropriate care and supervision of the children.

Adult Adoption

When there is an authentic parent-child relationship and the individual bringing the adoption petition and the adoptee understand the legal and practical ramifications, North Carolina recognizes adult adoption. This type of adoption enables families to protect important relationships and inheritance rights and give the adoptee a sense of belonging. Although the adoption decree does not create a family, it makes it official and offers a tangible sense of permanency and security.

Basic Eligibility Requirements for Adoptive Parents in North Carolina

Minimum age requirement: You must be at least 18 years old to adopt a child.
Marital status: The state allows single individuals and married couples to adopt. However, if married, your spouse must also be part of the adoption.
Residency: You must be a resident of the state for at least six consecutive months before filing an adoption petition. If living in another state, you may file a petition in NC to adopt a child that resides in North Carolina.
Minimum Income Threshold: Adoptive parents must demonstrate the ability to financially provide for a child through stable employment and assets (we’ll discuss this in more detail later on).
Criminal background check: A thorough criminal history review is required, and certain convictions may disqualify you from adopting.

The Adoption Process in North Carolina

Home Study

Most adoptions in North Carolina require a home study, except stepparent adoptions and relative adoptions. In a home study, a third party, usually a social worker from a private agency, seeks to learn more about your family to determine if the adoption serves the best interests of the child.

A home study encompasses many visits to the home, during which the social worker compiles information concerning your family history, health history and the current structure of your family. Additionally, the social worker speaks with each family member about how they feel about the adoption. The adoption agency conducts criminal record checks and collects references.

Next, the social worker writes an in-depth assessment. After the home study is done, the private adoption agency makes a recommendation about the suitability of the parties involved.

Identifying Adoption Opportunities

Per North Carolina adoption law, once families have an approved home study, they can start identifying placement opportunities, with the objective of finding a birth parent seeking to place a child for adoption. Prospective adoptive parents have several options for identifying themselves as potential adopters.

Direct outreach – Adoptive parents should leverage their own social network of friends, family, and acquaintances. Many prospective adoptive parents also post their profiles on social media platforms.
Advertising – Media entities specializing in placing advertising for prospective birth parents exist. Some publish advertisements or the prospective adoptive parents’ profiles. Some of these media entities could potentially facilitate match-making between birth parents and adoptive parents.
Facilitators – Facilitators advertise and mediate matches between birth parents and adoptive parents.
Adoption agencies – Agencies provide a full range of services, including preparing the home study, advertising, intermediating to make the match between birth parents and adoptive parents, accepting legal custody of the child, making the placement, and providing a post-placement report and services.

The Matching Process

Once families have identified an adoption opportunity, they must determine whether it’s the right opportunity for them.

In a direct or independent placement, prospective adoptive parents must determine whether an adoption opportunity suits them. Advertisers and facilitators will present opportunities and make a match, but will not conduct due diligence or risk assessments, nor will they provide counseling or placement services.

There is a home for every adopted child. In the matching process, the question is whether a particular opportunity is the right one for the prospective adoptive family. A skilled adoption lawyer can guide prospective adoptive parents through the process of conducting due diligence and risk assessment for each adoption opportunity by conducting background checks and obtaining in-person assessments and medical records.

Placement

Whether it’s a direct, private, or independent adoption, a placement happens when a prospective adoptive parent identifies an opportunity by direct outreach, advertising, or through a facilitator. Why is it called a direct, private or independent adoption? Because the birth parent places the child directly with the prospective adoptive parent without an agency acting as an intermediary.

An agency placement takes place when the agency presents the opportunity to the adopted parents, makes the match, and the birth parent gives the agency legal custody of the child. The agency delegates physical custody and responsibility for care to the prospective adoptive parents, retaining legal custody until the adoption is final.

Finalization

The details of the legal process of adoption in North Carolina vary depending on the specifics of each case. It usually begins before placement occurs and continues afterward.

The legal process includes obtaining the consent or relinquishment from the placing parent. North Carolina adoptions must also address the legal rights of the other biological parent, including any potential birth father.

If the child is born in a state that is different from the state where the adoptive parents reside, then the provisions of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) must be satisfied before the adoptive parents take the child home.

Mills Adoption Law: Experience for What Matters Most — Family

If you are considering adopting a child, consult a competent Raleigh adoption attorney before making any life-changing decisions. Bobby Mills, founding attorney of Mills Adoption Law, has over 35 years of hands-on experience. Having represented all members of the adoption triad—adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoptees—he has seen things and can anticipate problems other attorneys will not anticipate. Through his work on thousands of cases, he truly understands how to navigate the legal system and stand up for families. If you are seeking to adopt a child in North Carolina, contact him at (919) 306-2899, or complete the online form to schedule your free, 15-minute consultation.

The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author or the law firm, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting based on any information included in or accessible through this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

Mills Adoption Law
4600 Marriott Dr, Ste 350
Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 306-2899
https://www.millsadoptionlaw.com/