Adoption
Independent adoption
Hi everybody! My brother and SIL are starting to get into talks with a birth mom who they may potentially adopt from. They were introduced through mutual friends so it would be an independent adoption. They also reside in 2 different states. How would you proceed in this case and does a homestudy need to be completed prior to the adoption? After struggling with IF for so many years, I will be thrilled for them if it works out. I know they are caught up in excitement and emotion (and rightfully so), but I am worried about paperwork issues, etc. to get it done legally and in a timely manner. Thank you all so much for your help.
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Re: Independent adoption
I would contact adoption lawyers in both states ASAP. They will need to start a homestudy immediately. Homestudies can be expedited in this situation, but the sooner they get started, the better.
There's also the interstate compact laws. Your brother and SIL would have to go to the state where the baby is born and stay there until they are cleared to leave the state and return to their home state. This is why an adoption lawyer is so important.
We had the possibility of this happening, even though we were working with an adoption agency. The agency told us we'd need to contact a lawyer in the other state in order to make sure all the paperwork was done and the laws of both states were followed.
Good luck to them.
Perfect, thank you so much for the great advice, I will pass it along!
https://adoptionattorneys.com/
There are attorneys who specialize in adoption listed at this website.
Click on the link for Member Directory to locate one in the states you need.
What Dr. L said.
They will have to stay in the state the baby is born in (at least one of them) until 1.) their homestudy is approved and 2.) ICPC (the interstate governing body) approves the adoption -- they'll have to submit all of their adoption paperwork, homestudy, and quite a few other documents and it has to go through an ICPC worker in each state and receive approval before the baby can cross state lines.
It can certainly be done without an approved homestudy, they're just looking at a longer stay out of state.
Typical ICPC approval time (of course, this is assuming they already have an approved homestudy) is about 5-10 business days. Of course, my social worker was telling me at the first of the year, she had an adoption held up with the couple out of state for NINETY DAYS by a very particular ICPC worker (for really ridiculous reasons) and the husband had to go back to work b/c he exhausted his FMLA otherwise his company was going to let him go. So it can be very straining.