St. Louis Stepparent Adoption Attorney

Stepparent Adoption

Families aren’t always united by blood. If you’ve married someone who already has a child, adopting that child can be an act of love that brings your new family together. Unfortunately, even if you’re already their stepparent, adopting a child is often an incredibly complex process.

When you work with a family lawyer, you can be assured that all paperwork is filed correctly and on time. This speeds up the process and reduces your risk of facing legal issues down the line.

At the Law Office of Amy L. Gervich, our team has extensive experience helping Missouri stepparents successfully adopt their stepchildren. If you want to pursue an adoption, please call us or get in touch online to set up your free initial consultation.

What Goes Into Adopting a Stepchild?

It might seem like adopting a stepchild is a lot less formal than adopting a child you have fostered — and in some ways, it is. However, in order to protect the child’s best interests, Missouri still requires you to go through a fairly involved process before it will grant the adoption:

Getting the Consent of the Biological Parent

A child cannot have three legal parents. Before you can become your stepchild’s adoptive parent, you must get the consent of the other biological parent or otherwise have their rights terminated.

This step is often easy if the other biological parent is already absent from the child’s life. In this situation, the other parent usually realizes that it’s better to allow a loving stepparent to adopt a child than it is to hold onto parental rights they don’t necessarily exercise.

If the other biological parent pays child support, they are especially incentivized to sign their rights over. Once they are no longer the child’s legal parent, they have no obligation to pay for anything on their behalf.

In some cases, the biological parent may protest the adoption. When this happens, you and your new spouse will need to attempt to terminate the other parent’s rights. Understandably, the state won’t terminate a parent’s rights unless there is a very good reason to do so.

You and your attorney will need to pursue legal action if you want to terminate the other parent’s rights. In these proceedings, you will need to prove to the court that it’s in the child’s best interests to be adopted by a stepparent.

This process can be somewhat complicated. For instance, a parent who has been absent from the child’s life for a certain amount of time might not be able to contest the adoption. When you work with us, our team can assess your case and recommend a course of action.

Getting the Consent of the Stepchild

If you are adopting an older child, you typically will need their consent to legally adopt them. However, if the child is too young to truly understand the situation, the court will usually appoint a guardian ad litem.

A guardian ad litem is an attorney who assesses the situation and advocates for the child’s best interests. In most cases, a younger child’s guardian ad litem will thoroughly review the circumstances and recommend whether they think the adoption should happen.

Getting a Background Check

If you have any kind of criminal record, you might be anxious to hear about this requirement. However, you don’t need to have a spotless record to be approved. Only certain offenses, including the following, can disqualify you:

You are required to be on a sex offender registry
You have a finding of child abuse or neglect in any state’s database
You’ve been convicted of certain felonies (see below)
You’ve been convicted of a violent misdemeanor against a child
You’ve been convicted of a crime involving child pornography

These are the felony offenses that will disqualify you from adopting a stepchild:

Child neglect or abuse
Murder
Physical assault/battery
Rape or sexual assault
Kidnapping
Any crime against a child
Spousal abuse
Arson
Drug-related crimes within the past five years

Notably, you may not be the only person in the household who must pass a background check. Anyone who lives with you and is over 17 must be able to pass a check before you can be approved for adoption.

Getting a Home Study

For adoptions in general, Missouri requires a study of the prospective parent’s home to make sure the living conditions are suitable for a child. However, this is one of the instances where a stepparent adoption is often a little less complex than an adoption of a child from the foster care system.

This is especially true if the stepparent and the child’s biological parent have been married and living together with the child for at least six months. In such cases, the court will usually waive the home study requirement.

Getting the Approval of the Court

Once you go through the necessary steps to file for a stepparent adoption, the court will review all of the evidence holistically. This is a very important step — the family court is looking at the case carefully to make sure the adoption is in the child’s best interests. Assuming that it is, the adoption will be made official.

Working with an attorney will often improve your chances of approval. From the start of your case, our team can help you develop a strategy for demonstrating that adopting your stepchild is the best thing for them. And if the court doesn’t grant you the adoption order, we may be able to help you appeal that decision.

What Legally Changes When You Adopt a Stepchild?

The most important effect of adopting your stepchild is the fact that you’re now officially that child’s parent. However, it’s important to understand some of the other legal changes that come when you adopt a stepchild:

In many cases, your name will be added to the child’s birth certificate
Your child’s last name may be changed to your family’s married name
The biological parent whose rights were terminated won’t be able to seek custody or visitation
The biological parent will not be required to pay child support
You will receive the same legal parental rights and responsibilities a birth parent would have
Your parental rights and responsibilities are permanent

It’s always important to have a clear understanding of what you’re getting into when you make a major decision — especially one as life-changing as adoption. If you’re considering a stepparent adoption but aren’t sure if you’re prepared, feel free to set up a free consultation with us to discuss what stepparent adoption entails.

Ready to Adopt Your Stepchild? We’re Here for You

Nothing beats the joy of finally adopting your stepchild. And if you want to do your best to make the process as seamless as possible, working with a family law attorney is important. If any unexpected issues arise, your lawyer will be able to help you strategize the best way to handle them.

However, you don’t want to hire just any family lawyer. It’s important to make sure your attorney has specific experience with stepparent adoptions.

At the Law Office of Amy L. Gervich, our team has helped many stepparents just like you make their families official through adoption. Please call us at 314-725-7901 or fill out our online contact form to get started with a free consultation.