What are the Different Kinds Of Adoption?

Re-adoption or domestication of a foreign guardianship or adoption involves a “re-adoption” process in the adoptive parents' home state when a family has a final adoption or guardianship from another country. 

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) requires strict rules to be followed and steps to be taken before a child can be moved from one state to another for the purposes of adoption. When the child is born or resides in a state other than the one of the adopting family, the adoption is interstate, and must then comply with ICPC.

Getting started as a single parent is not any different than it is for a married or partnered couple with the exception that you may have to do more research and make more contacts than you would if you were two people working together. Once you have decided that you want to adopt a child, however, my team of professionals will  assist you in putting all of the pieces together. Know that many thousands of children have been adopted by single men and women who have chosen to become adoptive parents.

Foster care adoptions come through a public agency, such as the Department for Children and Families (DCF) through the Child Welfare Case Management Providers, a private contractor responsible for finding homes for children who do not have another adoption resource available. Once a child has been removed from his or her home, DCF will place the child into a foster home.

An adult adoption occurs when one adult adopts another. Once an adult adoption is complete, the parties have a legal parent-child relationship with all associated rights and responsibilities. The most common reason to adopt an adult is for inheritance purposes. The second reason, almost as common, is to formalize an existing parent/child relationship, such as adopting a now adult foster child or step-child or a father who finds children they didn't know they had. Finally, adult adoptions often occur to provide perpetual care for an adult who has a diminished capacity or disability. Through the adoption process, one adult can become the responsible party and decision-maker for another adult's care.

A relative adoption is the adoption of a child who is related by blood or marriage to the prospective adoptive parents, who are the child’s grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, sibling, etc. Since the birthparent(s) are surrendering the child directly to you, there will likely be no agency involvement.

For same-sex couples, it is often the case that there is only one legal parent even though two people may equally parent the child and think of themselves as co-parents. This is because the status as a legal parent is automatically conveyed to the parent who has a biological connection to a child. A second-parent adoption allows a second parent to adopt a child without the "first parent" losing any parental rights. In this way, the child comes to have two legal parents. It also typically grants adoptive parents the same rights as biological parents in custody and visitation matters.

A step-parent adoption is a type of independent adoption where a step-parent adopts the child of their spouse and the spouse maintains his/her legal rights.

An agency can help the birth parents or adoptive parents find one another, and typically, the agency provides adoption services such as counseling and financial support to the birth parents. The birth parents may even be involved when choosing the adoptive parents by reviewing “resumes” of interested parents.

I work with families wishing to adopt through all stages of the process, from initial consultation to finalization. Because Kansas strictly forbids attorneys from finding a child for clients, I provide pointers to help you carefully locate birth families, especially via the Internet.