What is an Adoption Home Study For?
In adoptions that are not "in family" adoptions such as step-parent or grandparent adoptions, South Carolina law requires that an adoption home study be completed. Two, in fact: a pre-placement home study and a post-placement study. But why?The pre-placement study is a a report that documents your home life. It is pretty intensive and digs into all areas of your family life: criminal background checks, child abuse registry searches, family finances, health, references, birth certificates. For example, this is not just looking to make sure you are married. It wants to know how your marriage is. Are there issues in your family that need dealing with? Does your extended family support your choice to adopt? What is your motivation to adopt?The ultimate goal is to make sure your family is ready for an adoptive placement and that it will be a healthy place for this child joining your family.The post placement study is a visit in your home with your family and the child to check on how things are going. There may be one post placement visit or multiples depending on the agency requirements.
How long will my adoption take?
The length of time that’s your adoption case will take will depend on many factors including the type of adoption (DSS adoption, grandparent adoption, stepparent adoption, private adoption agency adoption).
What is the Starting Point of the Adoption?
Another factor that impacts the time of an adoption is where we are starting. For example, are you matched with a birth mother yet through a private search or through the use of an adoption agency? If you are adopting through DSS, has the child been placed with you for adoption purposes and have the parents rights been terminated? Have the birth parents filed an appeal?
Before an adoption can be finalized, terminating the birth-parents’ rights is the first step before the child can be adopted. This can be a lengthy, highly-litigated process or it could be something that happens quickly because the parents agree to sign a voluntary consent to adopt. A contested trial could take several months to be scheduled and could last a few minutes up to several days for trial. Unfortunately, this uncertainty prevents us from being able to forecast exactly how long an adoption may take.
What if the adoption is not contested or an approved DSS Adoption
An uncontested step-parent adoption or grandparent adoption could be completed in as little as 90 days or so, while the process from start to finish through an independent or agency search could take upwards of two years.If you would like to discuss your options for adoption in South Carolina, please call Tripp at 864-558-0512 or use the form below to schedule a consultation to discuss your case. The consultation is complimentary and confidential.[contact-form-7 id="357" title="Contact form 1"]
What are the steps for a Grandparent Adoption in South Carolina?
Let’s Learn more about Grandparent Adoptions in South Carolina.
Are you a grandparent who has taken custody of your grandchildren? You've taken on a roll that is extremely important to your grandchildren, but just having legal custody is sometimes not the permanence the child deserves.
Grandparent adoptions are really no different to any other adoption. The primary exception is that you already have a biological relationship to the child.
So where do we start?
Private adoptions and agency adoptions require a home study to be performed prior to and after placement of the child for adoption. South Carolina law has an exception for that for in-family adoptions (including grandparent adoptions) are not required to have pre and post-placement home studies.
Voluntary Relinquishment of Parental Rights
Now that we do not have to worry about the pre-placement homestudy, we are ready to begin the legal process. For a child to be adopted, he or she must be “legally free” for adoption. That means the birth parents have given up their parental rights voluntarily or had their parental rights terminated by the Family Court. Often times birth parents in these situations will realize it serves the best interests of their children for the grandparents to be able to adopt the children and they will voluntarily sign a consent to the adoption. If a birth parent chooses to voluntarily relinquish his or her parental rights, then a Consent for Adoption document is prepared and the parent must meet with an independent lawyer to review the document, get legal advice about their rights, and to formally execute the document. This form has to be executed by special witnesses and be on a form that meets state statutory requirements. It is vital to have an experienced South Carolina adoption attorney assist in the preparation of this form to ensure it meets South Carolina statutory requirements.
Termination of Parental Rights.
Sometimes it isn't as easy as scheduling an appointment for the birth parents to sign a consent to the adoption. Perhaps they do not agree with the adoption. Other times their whereabouts are just unknown and they can't be located to consent to the adoption. When that happens in a grandparent adoption case, we will have to file to terminate the parental rights of the birth parents. South Carolina law gives us several grounds for termination of parental rights to consider in each case. These are things like a willful failure to financially support a child for more than six months, a willful failure to visit a child for more than six months, or a failure to complete a treatment plan within six months following a finding of child abuse or neglect.
In addition to a ground for termination of parental rights, the Court must also find that the termination of parental rights serves the child’s best interest.
Adoption
Once the Family Court has terminated the parental rights of the birth parents (or the birth parents have signed a voluntarily relinquishment of their parental rights), the grandchild is now free to be adopted. At this stage, we will ask the Court to consider your relationship with the child, how you have cared for him or her, the financial and emotional support that you have provided, and other matters that may interest the Court (e.g. your health, employment, and financial stability). Upon finding that the adoption will serve the child’s best interests, the Court would then approve your adoption.
Next Steps for your grandparent adoption:
Do you have questions about grandparent adoptions in South Carolina? Call Tripp at 864-558-0512 or schedule a consultation to discuss your grandparent adoption with him through this link.