How to adopt a family members child

Kinship Adoption – Adopting a Family Member

What is Kinship Adoption?

A relative adoption, sometimes also referred to as a kinship adoption, is when an adult adopts an eligible family member.

Sometimes this occurs when a child has already been living with a family member who has acted as their guardian or parental figure, and the family decides to legally protect the child’s status within the family through a relative adoption.

In other situations, a mother may know that she is unable to provide for a child, so she relinquishes her parental rights to a trusted family member. This family member becomes the child’s legal parent, but the child’s birth mother will still be able to remain an active part of the child’s life.

Whatever your reasons for adopting a relative, Jennifer and Catelyn are experienced in helping families stay together while finding new ways to care for children. They can guide you through the family adoption process with ease, whether you are adopting in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D. C.

Can I Adopt My Sibling, Niece/Nephew, Grandchild or other Family Member?

Yes — if you’re eligible to adopt a child, then you can adopt a minor child who is related to you through a family adoption in Virginia, Maryland or the District of Columbia. Jennifer and Catelyn have helped family members legally adopt their younger brothers, sisters, their siblings’ children, their grandchildren, cousins and more.

Keep in mind that if your relative is not a U.S. citizen, you will need an immigration attorney to assist you before completing an adoption. Your relative must be a U.S. citizen in order for us to complete your kinship adoption.

How to Adopt a Family Member’s Baby

Have you ever wondered, “How do I adopt a relative’s child?” The process of adopting a sister, brother, cousin, niece, nephew or any other relative living in the United States is generally the same, although there will be some variations depending on the state you reside in, and sometimes your individual situation. Jennifer can help you navigate these legal steps of adopting a relative’s baby in DC, MD or VA.

In general, the adoption process of adopting a family member’s baby is considerably simpler than other types of adoption. Some parts of the domestic adoption process will not apply to the kinship adoption process, which can make the process easier and faster. For example, in Maryland, § 5-3B-12, which requires the child’s biological parent to petition the court for approval before placing the child for adoption, and § 5-3B-24, which requires the adoption petitioner to file with the court an accounting of all payments, are not applicable when the child is placed for adoption with a relative of the child. Learn more about when a child may or may not be placed in the care of a relative in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia here.

While some elements of the adoption process may be waived when adopting a family member, depending on where you live and how long the child may have been living in your care, the kinship adoption process in MD, VA and DC often goes as follows:

You’ll obtain consent from the child’s parents, and/or the court will terminate their legal parental rights.
You’ll petition the court to adopt your family member.
You may have to complete any required home studies and submit any necessary documentation to verify that you’re prepared to parent this child.
The child will be placed in your care, and you may undergo a post-placement supervision period.
You’ll attend a finalization hearing several months later, where you’ll be granted legal parental rights.

An experienced attorney is required to help you complete an adoption, even if you’re adopting a relative. We can help you through the relative adoption process in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, so contact us now to learn more about how to adopt a sister, grandchild, nephew, or other relative.

Why Complete a Kinship Adoption?

If you’ve already been caring for a child in your home, adopting a family member may seem like an unnecessary formality, especially if everyone has been comfortably adhering to the informal arrangement. But there are several other reasons why you may want to consider legally adopting the child in your care:

You would be able to make medical decisions and access their medical records without needing their biological parents’ permission, which is particularly important in the event of an emergency.

The child would be able to benefit from your insurance and Social Security and would be able to inherit from you.

You would be able to pick up the child from school, take them to the doctor, enroll them in school and extracurricular activities and more, without having to get signed permissions from their biological parents.

You would legally solidify the emotional bond that you have with this child, so that in the eyes of the law, they can simply be referred to as your child.

One of the greatest benefits of kinship adoptions is that they are a simpler legal process than a traditional infant adoption. However, you’ll still need an adoption attorney to complete the relative adoption process.

When you adopt a family member, just like with any other type of adoption, you need to make sure that it’s completed correctly so that you and your child are legally protected. Jennifer and Catelyn will walk you through the relative adoption process, from obtaining the consent of biological parents to post-placement assessments. Experienced in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. kinship adoption laws, Jennifer and Catelyn can ensure your family’s permanence and protection.

We pride ourselves in our hands-on approach to all of our cases, so you can be sure that you’re getting individual attention as you become a permanent and legal family through the process of a relative adoption.

Kinship/Relative Adoption - Child Welfare Information Gateway

Permanent placement with relatives, or kin, is often the first option considered by foster care workers when children cannot safely remain in their parents’ home or cannot be reunited with them. When kinship families adopt, they often have different needs and face different challenges than families who adopt children unrelated to them. While kin is the term often used to describe potential caregivers biologically related to the child, some jurisdictions also recognize close friends or "fictive kin" who have a strong or significant relationship with the child and may meet the requirements for a prospective family. Resources in this section include information on kinship and relative adoption, including State and local examples.

Adopting a Family Member From Foster Care
Considering Adoption
Gives information on adopting a relative child from foster care and discusses the steps involved in kinship/relative adoption.

Adopting a Relative for Immigration to the United States
U.S. Department of State
Provides an overview of the requirements for adopting a relative from abroad.

Adoption
Grandfamilies. org
Describes adoption by grandparents and the process through which this type of adoption occurs.

The Hidden Hurdles and Benefits of Kinship Care and Adoption
Tangel (2022)
Adoption Advocate, 164
Reviews the topic of kinship care adoptions and provides recommendations for child welfare professionals on the home study process, achieving permanency, placement stability, and more.

Kinship Care and the Child Welfare System

Series Title

Factsheets for Families

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 419KB)
Order (Free)

Disponibilidad

Ver
Versión para imprimir (PDF - 460KB)
Ordene (Gratis)

Year Published

2022

Discusses issues of interest to the growing number of grandparents, other relatives, and family friends caring for children whose parents are unable to care for them. This factsheet is designed to help kin caregivers work effectively with the child welfare system. It also includes resources, such as links to more detailed information or places to find support, to help caregivers learn about and navigate the child welfare system.

Placement of Children With Relatives

Series Title

State Statutes

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 755KB)

Year Published

2018

Presents an overview of State laws that give priority or preference to relatives when children are in need of out-of-home care. The issues addressed include locating relatives, determining the fitness of a relative to provide care, and requirements for licensure. Requirements for placing siblings together whenever possible and adoption by relatives also are addressed. Summaries of laws for all 50 States are included.

Working With Kinship Caregivers

Series Title

Bulletins for Professionals

Author(s)

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Availability

View
Download (PDF - 355KB)
Order (Free)

Year Published

2018

Helps child welfare professionals promote kinship care by providing kinship caregivers with information, referral, and support services to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children in their care. Topics covered include the types and benefits of kinship care, training for caseworkers and caregivers, specific strategies for supporting kinship caregivers, and examples of successful State and local child welfare programs that provide services to kinship caregivers.

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State and local examples

Kinship and Relative Care Services
Minnesota Department of Human Services, MN Adopt
Describes kinship care and shares resources in Minnesota for prospective kinship parents along with national resources.

Kinship Care Portal
Georgia Department of Human Services
Presents information, resources, and ways to find support for prospective kinship families and kinship caregivers who have provided permanency for their family member through kinship adoption in Georgia.

Making the Adoption/Guardianship Decision (PDF - 1,700 KB)
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
Provides answers to common questions about adoption and guardianship, birth parent rights, the responsibilities of adopting relatives, and more.

New York State Kinship Navigator
Provides legal, financial, referral, and advocacy information for kinship caregivers so they can provide stability and permanency for children in their home.

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Who can be an adoptive parent - Internet project "Adopt.ru"

Who can be an adoptive parent - Internet project "Adopt.ru"For 17 years our website usynovite.ru has been helping children find a new home,
parents, faith in the future, and guardians and adoptive parents - parental happiness and new family members.
During the operation of the site, the number of profiles in the database of orphans decreased by more than 100,000.

Home

Who can be an adoptive parent0010

Adoptive parents may be adults of both sexes, except for:

persons recognized by a court as incapable or partially incapacitated;
former adoptive parents, if the adoption is canceled by the court due to their fault;
persons who, for health reasons, cannot exercise parental rights (the list of diseases in the presence of which a person cannot adopt a child, take him under guardianship (guardianship), take him into a foster family, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 1, 1996 N 542 ):
- tuberculosis (active and chronic) of all forms of localization in patients of groups I, II, V of dispensary registration;
- diseases of internal organs, nervous system, musculoskeletal system in the stage of decompensation;
- malignant oncological diseases of all localizations;
- drug addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism;
- infectious diseases before deregistration;
- mental illness, in which patients are recognized in the prescribed manner as incapacitated or partially incapacitated;
- all diseases and injuries that led to disability of groups I and II, precluding working capacity;
persons who, at the time of establishment of adoption, do not have income that provides the adopted child with the subsistence minimum established in the constituent entity of the Russian Federation in whose territory the adoptive parents (adoptive parent)* live;

Other restrictions for persons wishing to adopt a child:

Individuals who are not married to each other cannot jointly adopt the same child.
When a child is adopted by one of the spouses, the consent of the other spouse to the adoption is required, unless the child is adopted by both spouses.
Consent of a spouse to adopt a child is not required if the spouses have terminated family relations, have not lived together for more than a year, and the place of residence of the other spouse is unknown.
The age difference between the unmarried adopter and the child to be adopted must be at least sixteen years. For reasons recognized by the court as valid, the age difference may be reduced. When a child is adopted by a stepfather (stepmother), the age difference is not required.

No restrictions other than those listed above.

* - When making a decision on the adoption of a child, the court has the right to deviate from this provision.

News of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

On February 8, 2019, the Ministry of Education will submit a draft law on changing the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government .

On February 8, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation held hearings on the draft law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children's Rights”. The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation T. Yu. Sinyugina.

In the course of her speech, T. Yu. Sinyugina said that the department was ready to submit a draft law on changing the procedure for the adoption of minors to the Government.

– Over the course of six months, we met several times. And the reason for our meetings was an interested and indifferent conversation and work on the bill, which today is already ready for us to submit it to the Government, - said T. Yu. Sinyugina.

For reference

In December 2018, members of the Interdepartmental Working Group under the Ministry of Education of Russia prepared a draft law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Protection of Children’s Rights”. The bill was posted on the federal portal of draft regulations for wide public discussion.

The bill contains new approaches to the transfer of orphans to families, which will allow developing the guardianship institution, improving the conditions for training people who want to take an orphan child into their family.

For the first time, the draft law proposes to introduce the concept of "escort" into federal legislation. It is planned that this authority will be vested in authorized regional authorities and organizations, including NGOs.

Special attention in the document is paid to the adoption procedure, there is added a provision on the procedure for the restoration of adoptive parents in the duties of parents, if they were previously deprived of such an opportunity.

News

All newsSubscribe to news The role and support of parents. Watch the new webinar within the framework of the University of Adoptive Families Usynovite.ru December 7 at 11:00 (Moscow time)

December 05, 2022

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November 23, 2022

Adopted children will be enrolled in schools with brothers and sisters on a priority basis

How to adopt a child — Snob

Moscow and Muscovites

The myth of the complexity of the adoption process and insurmountable bureaucracy scares potential adoptive parents. Of course, having decided to take a child into the family, you will have to prove that you are ready for this and really want it. Fortunately, finding detailed instructions, application forms and relevant certificates on the Internet is not difficult. "Snob" tells what you need to do if you want to become an adoptive parent, where to start and what subtleties to consider

30 August 2019 14:25

Photo: Pexels

Where to start

First you need to understand what kind of child you want to take into your family. If you already have someone in mind, first understand the specific family situation. For example, if you want to take care of your younger sister or brother who, for some reason, was left without parental care (they died, were deprived of parental rights, or for some reason cannot fulfill their duties), it will be easier to process documents: it is easier for close relatives of the child to become a guardian (custodian) of a child than to people from the outside. If you still do not know which child you want to take into your family, look on the Internet for profiles of children left without parental care. Formulate your criteria, evaluate how important the different qualities of the child are for you. It is important to decide whether you want to take an infant, preschooler or teenager, whether you are ready to raise a child with serious illnesses, how important it is that the child looks like you or your partner.

You can look at the children's profiles yourself in a Moscow or federal bank, and then apply to a specific orphanage or transfer your request to the guardianship authorities at the place of residence. Detailed guardianship forms will be shown to you only after you provide an opinion on the possibility of being a guardian (custodian) or adoptive parent.

Adoption or guardianship

It is also important to choose the form of legal relationship with the child. This is necessary both for those who want to take care of a particular child, and for those who are looking for a new family member (the form of a family unit is one of the important criteria for finding a child). The two main ways to place a child in a family are adoption and guardianship.

Adoption is a priority form of placement for children left without parental care. Adoption is possible only through the court. As a result, adopted children are equated with your relatives by origin (as if you gave birth to them). Your mother automatically becomes the child's grandmother, the sister becomes the aunt. You can give your son or daughter your last name, a new name and patronymic, change the place and even the date of birth in his documents. You can only adopt a minor, and as a general rule, you must be at least 16 years older than the child (again, imagine you gave birth yourself). For the first three years, the guardianship authorities will check whether everything is in order with the child. If there are no complaints about you during this period, the checks will stop. You can be deprived of parental rights only by a court decision, as is the case with blood children. If you wish, you can hide the fact of adoption from others or from the child himself, and the guardianship authorities are obliged to help with this.

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After the court makes a decision, the adopted child legally becomes yours: you must present the court decision at the registry office and change the child's birth certificate there. You can apply for a certificate of state registration of adoption online on the website of the Moscow City Hall.

Upon registration of guardianship (for children over 14 years old - guardianship), the child, from the point of view of the law, does not become your son or daughter, but is transferred to you for temporary upbringing. At the same time, the state will pay an allowance for its maintenance, and by the age of 18 it will provide housing, if necessary. You will also be supervised by guardianship. You will not be able to give your child your last name, and your relatives will not become his relatives by default: if the wife has taken custody, only she is responsible for the child and can be his legal representative, and her husband cannot, for example, go with the child to the clinic.

There are foster and foster families. With this form, the guardianship authorities conclude an agreement with the family, according to which adults raise children for a certain period of time for remuneration from the state. You can read more about how to create a foster family here.

Foster Parent School

Whatever form you choose, you will need to go through Foster Parent School. This is a mandatory stage at which you will be psychologically and practically prepared for the adoption of a child in a family. There you will be told not only what to expect from a teenager from an orphanage, but also how to collect all the necessary documents and certificates.

You can choose any school and enroll in it for free. Find out where the next classes are held and apply online. The training will take one and a half to two months, at the end you will receive a certificate that you need to present to the guardianship authorities. You do not need to go to school if you are a close relative of the child, his stepfather or stepmother.

Photo: Pexels

Documents and certificates

It will be good if you collect all the necessary documents by the time of graduation and take them to the guardianship authorities along with the certificate. There you will receive a conclusion confirming that you are financially and psychologically ready to accept the child into the family. To get this document, you need to provide information about your housing, income and health, confirm the absence of a criminal record and the consent of all members of your family who live with you, including children over the age of ten. The full list of documents that you will need is on the website of the Moscow City Hall: at first glance, it looks scary, but in general, you need not much more documents than to apply for a visa to some country that is not very popular with tourists. You need to contact the guardianship and guardianship authority at your place of residence. Addresses of the location of guardianship and guardianship authorities can be found on this map. After you have submitted the documents, a guardian will come to you to talk to you and your family and see the apartment, and in a few days the conclusion will be ready.

By registering as a potential guardian or adoptive parent, you can go to the orphanage and officially meet your unborn child. If you become a guardian, your bureaucratic journey is almost over.

Payments and allowances

Adoptive parents, guardians and adoptive parents receive payments from the state: in the case of a foster family, this is a remuneration established by the agreement, in other cases - social benefits, the amount of which depends on the state of health of the child and his age.