Our step-parent adoption is final!
As of 5:25pm on Aug. 15, our adoption is final! My husband adopted my four children from my first marriage. We are all so very excited and happy! This has been a dream of ours for over a year. Our family feels so much more complete. And the kids get to start the new school year with their new name!
Just wanted to share our wonderful news!
Hugs to all~
Congratulations!! This is, indeed, very exciting news!!!
Question for you, I am also in NC and wondered what the process is for a step-parent adoption in NC?
Do we need an attorney, home study? Also, what was the cost involved?
My husband wants to adopt my daughter (he's the only father she's ever known and she's almost 7), we've been married for almost 4 years.
Thanks for any info you can share and, again, CONGRATULATIONS to you all!
Myra
We did use an attorney - after months of research it just seemed the best route to take. Especially since we had to deal with termination of parental rights for the bio dad. The attorney helped us attempt to locate the bio dad with no luck. I even tried calling his family - his family now all have unlisted numbers and his mom wouldn't take my calls at her job. So, we filed a public notice in the local paper where he was last known to be living. After the time ran out for him to respond, the attorney filed with the court for a hearing and rights were terminated. After that he filed for the adoption, we did a home study, and here we are! Total cost for the adoption of all 4 children was under $3000. I really hope it works out for you and your husband for him to adopt your little girl. It's an awesome feeling to have the man that is your childs daddy in his heart to finally be their daddy in every way possible.
Sound simple enough. How long did all of that take?
I guess we'll just consult with an attorney to find out what we need to do in order to get things finalized. We know where the bio father is and he is anxious to get this squared away (I'm sure he's just wanting to be released from any threat of having to pay child support again - which he quit doing about 4 years ago). It has been my understanding that the home study isn't required on a stepparent adoption if you've been married at least 2 years. Had you been married less than that?
Thanks again for all the info and for sharing your wonderful news with us.
Myra
From the day I paid the attorney and he began the process til the day we got the call that the adoption was final was 7 months. However, we spent most of that dealing with the termination of rights.
We were married under 2 years - way under - we retained the attorney after 8 months of marriage. Their bio dad was in no way shape or form interested in being their dad, and once he completely disappeared it made no sense to us to wait. Altho, like you, I am sure if he knew signing over his rights was an option he'd have broken his neck to do it. All he wanted was out of child support payments. He had a child before we met and skipped out on those child support payments for 8 years - until the bio mom passed away and the balance was written off and he was off the hook. It's really sad. Men that go around making children they have no intention of raising or taking care of. Kudos to your hubby for being a REAL dad!!
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