Pittsburgh Family Law Services, P.C. Blog

Before your spouse can adopt your child in Pennsylvania, you first have to terminate the other parent's parental rights.  This step effectively makes the biological parent a legal stranger to your child, and your spouse steps in and takes their place.  In Pennsylvania, you can terminate parental rights either voluntarily or involuntarily.  The basic process is the following:

Voluntary
This is when biological parent agrees to have their child adopted.  They have to sign a consent form called a "consent to adoption" in the presence of witnesses and a notary.  A biological parent has 30 days to revoke their consent to adoption.  If they do not do so, then you petition the court in what's called a "petition to confirm consent to adoption."  You will be scheduled for a court hearing where you will explain to the judge the steps you used to obtain the consent, establish that 30 days have passed, and request that the judge enter the order terminating the parental rights and allowing your child to be adopted.  

It is important to remember that the other parent can revoke their consent at any time during the 30-day waiting period.  If they do so, you will have to utilize the grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights in order to proceed with an adoption.  The other thing to remember is that when a parent signs the "consent to adoption," they are not specifically agreeing to your spouse adopting your child.  Consent cannot be conditioned on who ultimately becomes the adopting parent; the sole purpose of the form is to establish that they agree to relinquish their parental rights and have their child adopted.  Voluntary termination isn't always an option, but when it is, it can go a long way in reducing the time and cost spent in pursuing an adoption. 

Involuntary
In contrast, an involuntary termination occurs when the parent does not want to lose their rights to their child.  A parent is always permitted to contest the termination and have a hearing in front of a judge.  To terminate parental rights involuntarily, you have to establish that grounds exist; a judge won't simply remove a parent because you make a simple request.  There are several grounds that exist in Pennsylvania but the ones that are most applicable to stepparent adoptions are:  (1) a parent has failed to perform parental duties for at least 6 months before the termination petition is filed and (2) incapacity, abuse, or neglect caused by the parent that has resulted in the child being without proper parental care and cannot remedy the conditions.  We'll go through each of these individually.  

Failure to perform parental duties:  this is the ground most families are familiar with, and is what ultimately causes parents to pursue adoption.  In this situation, the biological parent is uninvolved.  They don't send cards, letters, gifts, or ask about how the child is doing.  They may drop in occasionally in the course of several years only to disappear again.  They are not involved in making educational or medical decisions for their child.  The mere fact that a parent is paying court-ordered child support is not enough to establish them as an involved parent.  Sometimes the other parent says that they were purposely kept away from their child.  While that can happen, it's their responsibility to make all efforts to continue maintaining a relationship, such as by sending letters, calling on the phone, or taking action in family court if needed.  

Incapacity:  this comes up less frequently in stepparent adoptions, but is generally used when a parent is incarcerated or has a severe physical or mental illness that truly means they cannot provide care for their child.  This ground requires substantial evidence about the conditions that are causing the incapacity, and establishing that the parent will not be able to change the situation.  

Even after you establish grounds for termination, the analysis doesn't end there.  The court also has to determine that terminating the other's rights is in your child's best interest.  The court will prioritize your child's physical, developmental, and emotional well-being.  Although this is often easy to establish in stepparent adoptions, it cannot be overlooked, and you need to be prepared to talk about why you believe termination is in your child's best interest.  

To pursue an adoption, the procedures have to be followed exactly.  This is not an area of law you want to pursue on your own, because the opportunities to inadvertently miss a critical step are numerous.  If you have questions about whether you have grounds to terminate parental rights, make sure to contact a local Pennsylvania adoption attorney.