Adopting Stepchildren
Step-parent adoption represents about half of all adoption applications in the UK each year.
Adopting a step-child is an important step with far-reaching emotional and legal consequences and should not be entered into lightly.
As well as giving a step-parent the right of parental responsibility for the child, it also changes the inheritance rights of the child. And it means cutting off a child's rights to contact with one of their birth parents and that parent's wider family.
If the step-parent and parent of an adopted child subsequently separate or divorce, both parents will have equal rights to the child while the child's birth parent will have none.
Severing a tie a child has with one of their birth parents can have repercussions later in their lives, particularly when they are teenagers.
Like other adopted children, they can feel confused as to who they really are if their name has been changed and there are members of their biological family that they may never have met. And they may be resentful that you chose to break off their ties with half of their natural family.
Changes to The Adoption and Children Act 2002 now means that for a step-parent to adopt a child, the step-parent and one of the child's birth parents no longer need to be married to each other in order to adopt the child.
The step-parent will have to have had their home with the child for at least six months.
Because couples must apply jointly, the adoption papers will show one of the child's birth parents as the adoptive parent which can also be confusing for the child.
The step-parent must be over 21 to adopt and the parent over 18.
Adopting a child known to you is not quite the same process as a stranger applying to adopt a child. The couple will usually not have to undergo medical checks and will not have to supply personal references. Police checks will be made, however, to find out if there are any offences against a child on the record of the applicants.
The home study will not be so rigorous but the social worker will seek the views of the child or children to be adopted and must make every effort to contact the non-resident birth parent and find out their views.
All the parties to the adoption will have to attend the court hearing and if the adoption is contested by the birth parent, they may need to attend the hearing, too.
Once an adoption order is made, all the legal links the child has with their birth parent are over.
Any earlier orders for contact and maintenance for the child will be ended and legal links with the child's natural parent and that parent's wider family, including grandparents, uncles, aunts, half brothers and sisters and cousins, will be ended too, including inheritance rights.
The child, while losing the right to inherit from one of their birth parents, gains the right to inherit from their adoptive step-parent.
No two step-family adoptions are the same. For further advice on this contact your local social services department or a solicitor specialising in family law.
For more information on this, see Adoption-net's step-parents rights.
The Department for Education and Skills also has a dedicated section for step-child adoption. This can be found by clicking here
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