Adoption
Texas Adoption Laws
Adoption is a court preceding that is used to create a parent child relationship between an otherwise unrelated person and a child. An adoption may be requested by a person that can show he or she has the resources and the appropriate background to provide a home for a child. A social study and an attorney to represent the child, an attorney ad litem, are required in almost all of these cases. After an adoption is completed the law regards the adopted child just as if he or she were a natural child of thee adoptive parent.
By accessing the services of a Dallas Adoption Attorney you can make sure that the adoption process will proceed according to law. It’s imperative to work with a Dallas Adoption Attorney that brings the knowledge and expertise you require in order to get the job done.
You may request to adopt your step son or step daughter, which is known as a Step Parent Adoption. In order to adopt a step child, the natural parent (not your spouse) must be given notice of your intention and must be given the opportunity to consent to the adoption. This is one of the most common forms of adoption, in its agreed form. In this type of case, the judge will decide if an attorney ad litem is required to represent the child, in which case you will have to pay that attorney as well. Some judges don’t require an attorney ad litem for the child in a step parent adoption, so the situation may differ from case to case. Once a child is adopted, the biological rights of one natural parent are usually terminated, and all the parental rights are usually created in favor of the adoptive parent.
If you adopt your stepchild and then later divorce the other parent, you would then most likely be obligated by law to support the child. This is true because the adoption has created a parent child relationship between you and the child that is equal in every way to a biological parent child relationship.
If you were adopted as a child, you may obtain copies of your adoption records if you know the county where the adoption has taken place. In this situation, a request is made to unseal the adoption records and obtain an order that allows the unsealing of adoption records. This can range from a simple matter to a bit of a project.
Adoption that is not in the step parent scenario must be very carefully addressed. It is only legal to provide financial assistance to birth mothers if you have adopted her child through a licensed adoption agency.
Incidentally, according to Texas law, a person cannot marry a child that was previously adopted by him or her, under any circumstances whatsoever.
The help of a Dallas Adoption Attorney is necessary to go through the adoption process. The adoption process can be complex so do choose a professional attorney for your case.
An adoption is the court proceeding to create a parent child relationship where there is no biological connection. Adoptions are available to step parents and to non-parents. To learn more about the laws in Texas concerning adoption visit our Texas Adoption page.