Qualifications for Adopting a Child in the U.S.

Background

• Prior to the enactment of the Massachusetts Adoption of Children Act of 1851, adoptions were carried out informally without governmental oversight or background checks by agencies. Many times the needs of adopted children were secondary to the economic concerns of the families who adopted them. After 1851, the law required a judge's approval of an adoption before it could be granted. Gradually, the adoption process became more attentive to the moral character of people seeking to adopt children, as well as exercising greater scrutiny in assessing their abilities to provide for and educate those children.

Types

• Public adoption agencies throughout the United States work independently and sometimes with agencies to provide permanent homes for children in the Child Welfare system and in foster care. Private licensed fee-based adoption agencies engage birth mothers, prospective adoptive parents and social workers in an effort to arrange successful adoptions or "matches." Independent or private adoptions are initiated by prospective adoptive parents, birth parents or by attorneys, and they are finalized by attorneys. Facilitated adoptions are initiated by a person whose sole service consists of linking an expectant birth mother with an individual or couple seeking to adopt. Because facilitators' services are unregulated, they are thought to carry some risk and are banned in all but three states.

Requirements

• Federal Law requires prospective adoptive parents to be at least 21 years old and for an applicant's spouse to be a willing partner in the adoption petition. Adoption laws vary among states. Applicants should satisfy the requirements defined by their state laws, including completion of a home study assessment, good health records, stable employment and housing and, if married, to have been married for at least two years, a background check with no reports of crime, violence or incarcerations, and no recent substance abuse problems.

Child Abuse

• All adoption placement services regard child abuse and neglect as serious obstacles to adoption. General requirements for those seeking to adopt children state that the applicants must have no history of crimes involving children. Additionally, applicants are asked to disclose any personal history of abuse that took place during their own childhoods, and to indicate whether they were or are currently involved in any type of domestic violence. If the history includes abuse or domestic violence, the applicant must be able to prove that the issues have been addressed and resolved with professional therapy.
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Special Considerations

• If prospective parents are attempting to adopt a newborn, birth parents are likely to play a major role in selecting adoptive parents for their babies. With infant and toddler adoptions, the criteria for adopting will be more restrictive than it would be if their adoption preference were older or special needs children. Some agencies or birth parents prefer to place their babies only with married couples who have been married for a certain length of time. Others require adoptive parents to be of a particular faith or to fall within a certain age bracket. Some agencies or birth parents might prefer and assign higher priority to prospective mothers who are infertile or who have undergone more than one miscarriage.

Individuals, Unmarried Couples and Same-Sex Adoptions

• Currently, most states allow adoptions by unmarried individuals but not by unmarried couples. Because same-sex marriage is illegal in every state in America except Hawaii, same-sex couples cannot adopt a child in the United States unless the child already belongs to one of the two people. In that case, the non-custodial parent may petition the court to adopt the child of his or her partner, which would result in both adults having equal parenting rights and responsibilities. Efforts are underway to change the current legislature pertaining to adoptions by unmarried and same-sex couples.