What You Should Know About Adoption in Florida
If you’re considering adoption, you’re probably filled with a wide range of emotions — joy, excitement, and love, along with challenging emotions like stress or confusion. Working with a qualified adoption attorney is an excellent way to navigate this process seamlessly and professionally.
Adoption is a legal process that creates a parent-child relationship, and this process can be drawn-out and complicated. In Florida, an adult individual or adult spouses can be eligible to adopt in Florida if they pass several steps for approval.
Adoptive parents must go through a lengthy set of screenings and mandatory trainings to be deemed ready and fit for adoption. Additionally, adoption requires legal paperwork and processes many adoptive parents find complicated and confusing.
Working with an experienced family law attorney is essential to navigating this process effectively. Contact Miami Family Law Group, PLLC to schedule a strategy session.
Types of Adoption
There are four main types of adoption in Florida. The primary type many people pursue is entity adoption. The other three types usually involve special circumstances involving existing relationships, and they typically require shorter legal processes and proceed more smoothly than entity adoption.
Here are the four types of adoption:
- Entity adoption (adoption through an agency or facilitated by an attorney)
- Step-parent adoption
- Close relative adoption
- Adult adoption
What Are the Adoption Procedures in Florida?
The Florida courts require adults looking to adopt to go through extensive procedures to ensure their eligibility and preparedness to be parents.
First, adopters must attend a two-hour presentation followed by an in-depth training course. This course assesses the adopters’ skills and informs them about issues and procedures in the adoption process.
Next, the adopter must undergo a home study and multiple background checks to ensure that they can provide a stable, safe home for the adoptee. The home study phase is very in-depth, and it includes not only submission of personal and professional references, but inquiries into finances, motivations for adopting, parenting strategy, and related issues. After gaining approval, someone who has completed these steps can begin searching for an adoptive child.
If a parent willingly gives up their child for adoption, they have a period ranging between 48 and 72 hours after signing the adoption paperwork to change their mind, depending on the child’s age. They must give consent in front of a notary. After this waiting period, the only way to overturn the adoption is if a judge finds that the biological parent signed the consent under duress or fraud.
Who May Adopt or Be Adopted?
Any unmarried adult may adopt in Florida. If a married person wants to adopt, their spouse must also join in the decision and adoption process unless the spouse is the biological parent or they receive an exemption. A Florida resident must have lived in Florida for at least 90 days before they can complete an adoption in the state.
Additionally, any person, including both minors and adults, are eligible for adoption. However, adoption is much more common amongst minors. In Florida, children 12 years and older are required to give their consent before proceeding with an adoption.
Florida protects the rights of gay and lesbian individuals and physically disabled people to adopt.
