Adoption Finalization

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The adoption process is a long one. It isn’t for the faint of heart or the impatient. They’ll be paperwork, home studies, meetings with lawyers and adoption professionals, meetings with birth parents or the potential adoptive couples, and months of just waiting for a response, a reply, or just any inkling of relevant information. Even with all that waiting, paperwork, and all those meetings, the adoption can never be officially complete until the adoption finalization proceedings have concluded.

During your adoption finalization hearing, the judge will review all the necessary and essential information. This can include the home study; any reports from adoption professionals, counselors or therapists, and caseworkers; and information about the birth parents and the adoptive parents. After he or she has reviewed all of the required information, the judge may ask any questions he or she has. Everyone in attendance can be asked questions—even the child, if he or she is old enough. It really is just dependent on what the judge deems appropriate. Keep in mind that most adoption finalizations take place in the county and state where the child was living or was born. However, there are some states that require you to be a resident of the state in order to finalize an adoption. When this is the case, the adoption generally can be finalized in your home county.

Some questions that the judge could ask may include:

Why do the adoptive parents want to adopt the child?

Why are the birth parents placing the child?

Can the adoptive parents take care of the child, financially, physically, and emotionally?

How will the adoptive parents care for the child? How will the new family adjust to the new addition?

Do the adoptive parents have adequate space for the child?

Are the birth parents certain that they want to relinquish their parental rights, if not already done so by the court?

The termination or relinquishment of parental rights is an important and crucial part of any adoption proceeding. If the parental rights have not already been terminated by the birth parents or by a court, the judge has the ability to do it right there during the adoption finalization. This is to ensure that the adoption proceeding is done in a timely manner.

In the courtroom, during the proceedings, there will be many people present:

The Judge

The child

Birth parents

Adoptive parents

Attorneys

Caseworkers

Supporting family members and friends

After the judge has felt that all his or her questions have been answered appropriately, he or she will then make the final decision. If the judge decides that everyone involved is participating in the adoption process by his or her own free will and choice, the judge will sign the adoption order or the adoption decree. Once this decree is signed, the adoption has been finalized. While the specifics are dependent on the state, the decree becomes active and standing once there is a signature from a judge.

Next, an amended birth certificate will be issued to the adoptive parents. Their names will now be listed as the mother and the father of the child. If it was an international adoption, adoptive parents may ask for a re-adoption. This is when adoption proceedings were finalized in the child’s country, but the parents would like it to be recorded in their home state, as well. That way, the child will have an adoption decree and birth certificate from the state as well as their home country.

The adoption finalization isn’t a time to cut corners. It is a time to make sure everything is aligned perfectly. It is a time to make sure the child is going to the right home, with the right adoptive parents. It is a time of starting-overs and moving-ons. It’s about progress and security, love and family.