A California stepparent adoption is normally a very happy experience for most families. If you are the adopting parent you are choosing to legally make the child your own. What a great choice and we are happy to help. Please give us a call at 1-877-9NEW-LIFE (877-963-9543) to schedule a free half hour consultation to learn more about the process. Whether you are on the Peninsula, East Bay or South Bay we have an office that is convenient for you, see Office Locations.
The following information assumes the child agrees to the adoption and the biological parent that has custody of the child also consents to the adoption.
The main issue to address is the biological parent’s rights that you are seeking to terminate by the adoption. If the other biological parent is unfortunately deceased, or has not had any contact with the child and not provided any support for the child for years, then terminating their parental rights should not be too complicated. There are code sections that address these things to hopefully help make the process easier.
What if the other biological parent is involved with the child’s life and has always paid for the child’s care? The other biological parent may not consent to the adoption without certain visitation rights or other additional rights being ordered by the court so they can continue their role in the child’s life. If the other biological parent is unwilling under any circumstances to agree to the adoption then their parental rights can be terminated by the court. This process of course requires additional fees, court filings and possibly multiple court hearings.
What if you cannot find the other biological parent to serve them with the request to adopt? You have to make a good faith effort to find and personally serve the other biological parent with the request for adoption and other documents filed with the court. What if you cannot find the other biological parent after doing everything possible to find them? You can request the court to authorize personal service by publication. Again, this process will require additional fees and court filings, but should not require any court hearings.
