Growing your family can sometimes happen in surprising ways, some of which are not at all simple to navigate. If you want to adopt your stepchild, it is very important that you understand the process in detail to ensure that you navigate the adoption process properly while keeping your rights secure.
Stepparent adoption in Texas is a two-step process with many potential setbacks. For your own sake and the sake of the child you love, make sure that you understand the process thoroughly beginning.
Parental rights
Texas guidelines require that the noncustodial parent terminate his or her parental rights before the adoption may proceed. Depending on the nature of the other parent’s relationship (or non-relationship) with his or her child as well as the intentions, convincing the other parent to relinquish his or her rights may not be easy.
You must carefully consider the relinquishing parent’s likely response. It’s also a good idea to prepare a legal strategy to help convince the child’s parent or to protect you if they push back legally. In some circumstances, a court may terminate a parent’s rights against their wishes if the petitioning party can prove that he or she abused or neglected the child. A parent may also have his or her rights terminated for non-payment of child support for multiple years, or for multi-year incarceration.
Adopting
Once the child’s other parent relinquishes parental rights, you may proceed with the adoption as you would with any other child. Depending on other factors, there may be additional challenges.
All adoptions require lengthy review of your request and also involve scrutiny of your home and other areas of your life. You will need to submit to home studies and observations to determine if you are fit to take care of the child and to assess your relationship to the child. Evaluating the circumstances of your request can take awhile, but courts want to see that the adoption will ultimately benefit the child and cause harm. As long as you can properly navigate this process and secure termination of the other parent’s rights, success is likely.
Ultimately, the process is a beautiful thing to observe and experience, and well worth the effort. If you hope to adopt your stepchild, be sure that you fully understand the tools that you have available and the steps you must take to seek adoption, as well as the rights that you have to protect.