Gaining the consent of a child's parents can be the most difficult aspect of a relative adoption, because it irrevocably terminates their parental rights.
Relative adoption is sometimes confused with stepparent adoption, but they are actually two different legal processes. In Georgia, a relative is a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister, either by blood or through marriage. Great aunts, great uncles and great grandparents also qualify. When any such person legally assumes the role of parent and responsibility for a child, it is a relative adoption.
Parental Consent
Georgia recognizes two kinds of parents: legal parents and biological fathers. A legal parent is either the child's biological mother, her husband at the time of the child's birth, or a man who married her after the birth but has recognized the child as his own. A biological father is simply the man who got the mother pregnant. Georgia has a Putative Father Registry that you or your attorney is obligated to check when you petition the court for adoption. A biological father may list his name and personal information with the registry even if he only thinks he may be the child's father. This gives him the right to be notified of the adoption of the child. He then has the choice of either consenting to the adoption, or filing a petition to legitimize the child and claim her as his own.
Absence of Parental Consent
When biological parents do not consent to the adoption of their child, Georgia courts may still approve the adoption if a judge believes it is in the child's best interest and the parent or parents have been absent from his life for at least a year, have failed to support him financially, or simply cannot be located. In such cases, the parents' rights might be involuntarily terminated.
Consent of the Child
A child who is 14 years old or older must consent in writing before a Georgia court will approve an adoption. In most cases, the child must also appear in court for the final adoption hearing and state her consent on the record, to the judge, as well.
Qualifications
Georgia courts will not grant an adoption to anyone who has not resided within the state for at least six months. If you are married, your spouse must adopt the child, also. If you're single, you must be 25 years of age or older, and in all instances, you must be 10 years older than the child or more. For instance, a 25-year-old cannot adopt her 16-year-old brother. Home inspections are not generally required for relative adoptions in Georgia, but judges do have the option of ordering one.
Tags: years older, approve adoption, biological father, child biological, Georgia courts