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Step 13 - Finalize the Adoption

For the purpose of this article, the term "waiting child" refers to children currently available for adoption through U.S. public welfare and foster care programs.

More of this Feature •  1. Educate yourself • 2. Examine your capabilities • 3. Adoption expenses • 4. Select an agency • 5. Complete an application • 6. The homestudy • 7. Take classes • 8. Locating a child • 9. Matching • 10. Prepare to welcome your child • 11. Placement • 12. Petition to adopt • 13. Finalization

Finalization hearings usually take place within a year of the time the child is placed in the home. Before scheduling a hearing, check with the agency to make sure you have completed all necessary paperwork, otherwise the finalization could be delayed. Your adoption is not legally complete until you have gone through the finalization process.

Hearings usually last from 30-60 minutes and establish the new legal relationship, and confirm your willingness and ability to provide for your new child.

The court will seek to establish that the child has been placed in a loving, secure home. You should be prepared to present all information included in your adoption petition, and to answer questions about why you want to adopt, how you will care for your child, how your family is and will continue adjusting, and anything else the court feels is relevant.

And when the judge signs the adoption order, you gain permanent, legal custody of your child! Finalization is the last formal step of the adoption process, but just the beginning of your new family. Post-adoption services and support should be the next step in your family life.

Best Resources

• Dad-of-8 - how one family adopted many children at no cost, a little about who they are, and how you can too.
• Older Child Adoption Online Magazine for present and future adoptive families
• Our Own Kids - a monthly online column for those adopting older children
• Post-Adoption Services
• Rituals, Ceremonies, Celebrations

Recommended Reading

• "A Child's Journey Through Placement", by Vera I. Fahlberg, MD
• "Adopting and Advocating for the Special Needs Child", by L. Anne Babb and Rita Laws
• "Nobody's Children: Abuse & Neglect, Foster Drift & the Adoption Alternative", by Elizabeth Bartholet
• "Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child", by Trish Maskew
• "Wasn't Love Supposed to be Enough?", by Barbara VanSlyck, Ellen Wristen, Alan Dupre-Clark, Richard Mague, Rosemary Haggerty

Sources for this article include:
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
North American Council on Adoptable Children
The Learning Center

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