Independent Adoption

In an independent adoption, the placing parent makes a personal selection of the adoptive family, and transfers legal and physical custody directly to the adoptive parents, with no agency involved. “Personal selection” means that the placing parent must be given certain identifying information about adoptive parents, including their full legal names, ages, religion, race or ethnicity, length of current marriage and number of previous marriages, employment, whether other children or adults reside in their home, whether there are other children who do not reside in their home and the child support obligation for these children and any failure to meet these obligations, any health conditions curtailing their normal daily activities or reducing their normal life expectancies, any convictions for crimes other than minor traffic violations, any removals of children from their care due to child abuse or neglect, and their general area of residence or, upon request, their address.

 

Independent adoptions are often managed by attorneys in cooperation with an Adoption Service Provider ("ASP"). An ASP is a private social worker or a licensed adoption agency (such as FCCA) who is responsible to advise the placing parent of his/her legal rights and options. This advisement must happen at least ten days prior to the signature of the Independent Adoption Placement Agreement (commonly called the “consent”). The ASP also collects background information from the placing parent, and then witnesses the signatures on the consent.  Once signed, the placing parent has 30 days to revoke the consent to adoption, unless s/he has signed a waiver of the right to revoke. 

 

A California adoptive family is not required to have an approved adoption home study or even cleared fingerprints prior to accepting an independent adoption placement of a California child.  The law permits the adoptive family to obtain the home study and fingerprint clearances after the placement by applying to the local District Office of the Department of Social Services (or the local county adoption agency for residents of San Diego County, Los Angeles County, or Alameda County).  However, many adoptive families prefer to obtain a pre-placement home study from a licensed private agency. This pre-approval gives extra reassurance to the placing parents that the adoptive home is a good home. It can also save the adoptive family a significant amount of money, since private agency home studies for independent adoptions are generally less expensive than those completed by the state or county.

 

Whether the family obtains a home study before or after the independent placement has been made, in every case, the responsible state or county worker will visit the adoptive family and the child after placement. That worker will prepare and file a report to the court within 180 days of the filing of the petition. Once the report has been filed with the court, the family can finalize the adoption, usually with the assistance of an adoption attorney or a licensed adoption agency. The family will receive a new birth certificate for the child anywhere from six to eighteen months after the finalization hearing.

 

Legal Authorities: Family Code Sections 8800 et.seq.; 22 CCR Sections 35079-35126.