Q: One of my co-workers is pregnant and wants my husband and me to adopt the baby. Do we need to get an attorney? An agency? Go through the court system?
A: Even though you know the prospective birth mother, and she has said she would like you to adopt her child, you still need to follow your state’s adoption procedures. Most likely, you can complete the adoption as a private, or independent, adoption with separate attorneys for you and your co-worker (search for adoption attorneys in your state at adoptionattorneys.org). Such an adoption will probably require a homestudy completed by a licensed child-placing agency, but that agency wouldn’t need to be involved in the placement.
Your state’s laws will say when the birth parents can consent to the adoption, the time they have to revoke their consents, what the adoptive parents are permitted to pay for, and the procedure for finalizing the adoption. As with any domestic adoption, you will be filing a petition for adoption in the appropriate state court. That court will enter a final decree of adoption terminating the birth parents’ parental rights and recognizing your parental rights.
