If you are pursuing adoption, you might already have heard about ICPC. If not, this will become a part of your adoption journey if you find yourself adopting a child who currently resides in a different state.

Since the beginning of recorded history, people have been writing about parenthood and what it means. Many people feel a strong drive to become parents, and they may start or expand their family in many different ways – adoption, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, and more.

Blended families are becoming increasingly common in America. Over the many stages of life, it is far from unusual for people who have children from a previous relationship to plan a future together.

Step parent adoption is a major milestone in uniting two families into a blended, enduring whole. Step  parent adoption is the process by which a person legally adopts the child of his or her spouse. Once this is complete, the step parent gains all the legal rights associated with parenthood.

Step parent adoption is one more marker on the path to blending two families into one harmonious whole. No matter how long you've been in a relationship with your partner, it is important to pursue step parent adoption because it confers unique parental rights. This lets you make decisions about the safety and well-being of your partner's child the same way you could with a biological child.

What Are Adult Adoptions? Adult adoptions enable an adult to enter a legal parent-child relationship with another adult who is a parental figure to them. This relationship confers all of the same rights and responsibilities as a biological parent-child relationship. For example, the child can inherit property from the parent. An adult adoption also severs all existing parent-child relationships pertaining to the adoptee and their prior parents unless the adopting parent is the step-parent of the adoptee. In that case, the adopting parent’s spouse maintains his or her parent-child relationship with the adoptee.

What is a Birth Certificate?

Second-parent adoptions have been around longer than many people realize because up until 2017, they had not been legalized in all 50 states. DC, for example, legalized second-parent adoptions over 20 years ago, which has led to the establishment of laws to protect all parties involved. Virginia came on board in 2014 for married same-sex couples and although Maryland has been granting second-parent adoptions under case law for over 20 years, the new law that came into effect June 1, 2020 extends those laws to ensure that both married and unmarried couples can take advantage of the law and to allow for expedited second parent adoptions.

A second parent adoption happens when a second parent obtains complete parental rights without the “first parent” losing any rights.

Family Formation Law Office is excited to announce that effective June 1, 2019, Maryland adoption and parentage laws will be changed for the better!

It is a natural inclination of many children to desire to be adopted by their stepparent. In many cases, a stepchild would like to surprise their stepparent after going ahead on their own to get the ball rolling. While such a heartwarming gesture is a lovely idea, the laws regarding step parent adoption do not accommodate it.