Polanzi Craig W Attorney At Law

Adoption involves the termination of parental rights of a child’s natural mother and/or father and the establishment of those rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parent or parents.A stepparent adoption is the adoption of a child by the spouse of one of the child’s legal parents.

A relative adoption is the adoption of a child who is a blood relative of the child or person.

Adoptive parents may be:

• Any proper adult person who is not married. If the person is married, his/her spouse must ¬also adopt the child(ren).
• Any person married to the legal mother or father of the child(ren).
• A husband or wife jointly

The appropriate consents have been obtained for the adoption.

The adoption must be in the best interests of the child.

Consent adoptions are adoptions where a birth mother or birth father agrees to have the child adopted. If the child is over 10 years old the child must also consent to the adoption.

Non-Consent Adoptions

Non-consent adoptions may be granted by the Family Court if all the following requirements are met:

• The birth parent cannot be located or will not agree to sign the consent form
• The birth parent has not paid support for the child for more than one year
• The birth parent has not contacted the child for more than one year
• The child has lived with the adopting adult for more than one year