Adopting a stepchild :Cross Stitch – Parents

If you live in England or Wales and are planning to adopt your spouse’s or partner’s child, you need to inform your local council. You must do this at least three months before starting your adoption application with the court. If your application is successful, you will get parental responsibility (PR) for the child.

The child’s other parent(s), or anyone else holding parental responsibility for them, must normally agree to the adoption. However, on the basis of the report, sometimes the court may decide this is not necessary.

An adoption order – granting parental rights to you – will only be made if it is seen as being in the child’s best interests. Some people feel the need to adopt their stepchild in order to make the family feel complete. However, this is not a good enough reason for a court to grant an adoption order.

When you are adopting your partner’s child, the adoption order doesn’t interfere with your spouse’s or partner’s parental responsibility. The adoption order gives parental responsibility for the child to you, the applicant.

However, the adoption order removes parental responsibility from:

• the other birth parent
• anyone else who has parental responsibility for the child

It also cancels out any existing orders like:

• contact orders – where the court has ruled on how and when contact visits with the child take place
• residence orders – where the court has decided with which parent the child should live
• special guardianship orders – where the court has given temporary PR to persons other that the birth parents, for example relatives