Pittsburgh Family Law Services, P.C. Blog

Stepparent adoptions are a wonderful way to help bring your family together.  Many times, stepparents play such a vital role in a child’s life and they view their stepchild exactly as they would their own child.  Stepparents provide a great source of stability when sometimes, unfortunately, the other parent has not been able to serve in that capacity.  After many years of being such an important parental figure, many clients want to explore adoption to make their family complete, even for something as simple as being able to use the same last name.  Adoption is a complicated legal process where the biological parent becomes a legal stranger to their child, and the stepparent takes their place.  Because of the severe consequences to the biological parent (who loses all right to ever speak with or see their child again), Pennsylvania law is very strict about how an adoption can properly occur.  It’s often said that adoption is the brain surgery of family law world because of how strictly the laws must be followed.  Before even beginning the process, it’s important to know whether you’re eligible to adopt a child.  These are a few of the questions your attorney will ask you:  

1.    Are you married?  In Pennsylvania, if you want to adopt your stepchild, you have to be married to the parent in order for her to retain her parental rights.  It’s true that unmarried individuals can adopt a child, but in those circumstances both parents’ parental rights are terminated.  That’s the last thing you want in a stepparent adoption!  Pennsylvania law requires that the adopting parent be married to the biological parent; long-term partners unfortunately do not count.  There are theoretically limited exceptions to this, but 9 times out of 10, you will need to be legally married to the biological parent in order to pursue an adoption.  

2.    Do you have any criminal convictions?  In Pennsylvania, every adopting parent has to undergo a rather extensive criminal background check.  These include the FBI, state police, and Pennsylvania child abuse clearances, in addition to clearances from any other state you resided in within the last five years.  In my own practice, I do not even begin drafting the petition until all clearances are received.  While nobody is concerned about parking tickets, certain felony offenses will prevent you from adopting.  These offenses are primarily related to violence, child-abuse, and drug-related offenses.  

3.    Do you understand you will have a duty to support your child?  This seems like a simple, and almost insulting question, right?!  It’s important to remember that adoption changes your legal relationship entirely.  You will be just as much a parent as you would have been if you were biologically related.  This is of course wonderful and exactly what you want to have happen!  It also means that you will have an obligation to financially support your child.  While nobody is thinking about eventual divorce during a joyful adoption hearing, the reality is that some marriages will end.  If that happens, an adoption means you could be responsible for paying child support—which you would not be obligated to do if an adoption never occurred.  The vast majority of stepparents of course are happy to take on this responsibility and in fact, have already felt responsible for their stepchild for years.  But with such an important obligation, it’s crucial that you really are prepared to do so.  

4.    Do you have grounds for termination?  The first step in the adoption process is to terminate the other birth parent’s parental rights.  This can be done voluntarily (meaning the birth parent agrees to do so) or involuntarily (the birth parent does not agree and a judge has to make a decision).  Before any adoption can occur, you have to establish that the birth parent is not willing or not able to care for your child.  This is not something that courts take lightly.  A parent who shows up late to custody exchanges or who only sees their child a few times a year does not in and of itself create grounds for termination.  To terminate parental rights, the court needs to be sure that it is ultimately in your child’s best interest to do so, and it needs to be sure that the parent is truly unable to care for their child or has affirmatively chosen not to do so.  

It’s important that you start your adoption case correctly from the very beginning.  This is an area of family law where you do not want to do everything yourself, because it’s far too detailed.  It’s very important that you speak about your specific situation with a local adoption attorney who can guide you through the process.