Child Adoption by Relatives

You may be one of the many birth parents who are thinking of placing your child for adoption with your parents, grandparents of other blood relatives.  The information below will help you if you are thinking of such a placement.

Placing a child with a family member to help care for your child is an option every birth parent has.  It does not necessarily require any legal action and does not need to involve the state or any adoption agency.

If, however, you want to permanently place a child with a family member and allow them to adopt your child, this is a legal process and will involve an adoption attorney or an adoption agency.  Such an adoption is permanent and forever will end the rights of the birth mother and birth father.  Accordingly, such a decision should be done only after careful thought.

This information below is adapted from a Child Welfare Information Gateway article.  To see how your specific state of residence addresses the issue of placement and adoption with a relative, visit ChildAdoptionLaws.com or the above CWIG linked website.

Each State defines "relative" differently, including relatives through blood, marriage, or adoption ranging from the first to the fifth degree. Generally, preference is given to the child's grandparents, followed by aunts, uncles, adult siblings, and cousins. The main requirements for placement are that the relative be "fit and willing," able to ensure the child's safety, and able to meet the child's needs. Several States require relatives to undergo a criminal background check that may include all adult members of the household.

Relatives with whom a child is placed for foster care are given preference for permanent placement if reunification with the birth parents is determined not to be in the child's best interest.

Several States (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia have established "kinship care" or "relative caregiver" programs by statute to provide relatives with benefits to help offset the cost of caring for a placed child. Six States (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee) address foster care payments for kin caregivers in statutes. In these States, if a relative meets the qualifications for being a foster parent, he or she may receive payments at the full foster care rate and any other benefits available to foster parents, whether in money or services.

In approximately 23 States, when a parent makes a direct placement of the child with a relative, the laws provide for a streamlined adoption process, such as not requiring a pre-placement assessment or home study unless specifically ordered by the court. Other States require that the child have resided with the relative for a period of time or have in some other way established a significant relationship with the relative. Approximately 13 States require a criminal records check of the adoptive parents and other adult household members.