[PJM9396]

I would love to hear from anyone who has completed an adoption where the birthparents are in one state and the adoptive parents are in another state. I am getting so much mixed info as far as which state's laws are to be followed. Many people have told me it goes by the state the child will be born in, and a few others have told me it goes by the state the adoptive parents live in and will finalize the adoption in. So please help, if you have finalized, I would love to hear how the chain of command went. Thank You.

[HappyMomAnna]

You might be able to get more answers if this is posted in the main forum.

My understanding is that the laws of the state where the child is born apply until the adoption is final or until there is an interstate agreement.

I am not sure if you are talking about newborn adoptions. But, even in this case I understand that issues such as a birthmother changing her mind--would be determined by the state the baby is born in.

[mj77]

The way HappyMomAnna has stated it is the way I've understood it as well.

Melissa

[tobeafamily]

HappyMomma is correct. Here's how it generally works (in a nutshell)

1. Child is born
2. Birth parents terminate rights following laws of birth state
3. Agent for adoptive parents submits adoption package to ICPC in birth state
4. ICPC in birth state checks to ensure all is done appropriately, then sends packet to adoptive parent's state
5. ICPC in adoptive parents state also checks to be sure all is appropriate and that the family has made arrangements for post-placement supervision in their state
6. ICPC in both states 'clears', family travels home, adoption finalizes under laws of their home state.

HTH,

Regina, AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas

[numbr1dbcksfan]

And then.... once the adoption is finalized the papers are sent to the state of birth ..... (My friend was born in TN, then moved to IL and was adopted at age three, adoption was completed in IL, then once finalized, the sealed records were sent to TN where the BC is housed. TN is open records, BUT must have approval from IL to open them because the whole adoption was in IL). Long story short records are housed in the state of birth, but the laws are the ones where the child resides at the time of adoption(if the adoption is at birth the child would reside in the state the he or she was born). Long winded..I know....LOL.

[HappyMomAnna]

I think it might also be a fact the new birth certificate after the adoption is final 'should' still indicate that the child was born where the child was born...

In our daughters case we sort of have a funny story and my bio son really loves to tease me. Our little girl was actually born before my husband and I were married. We celebrate our 5th year this August---and her amended birth certificate had to list me with my foremer name--living at my foremer address and that I was a single mother! How funny is that!

[numbr1dbcksfan]

That is so funny!!!! Yes...my friends BC was still TN even though living and adopten in IL.... His Aparents lost it and then had to go to Nashville to get another one....

[PJM9396]

Thank you to all of you who have replied to my message, although I'm still not sure I have an answer or one that I understand completely. :-) Let me provide a bit more info and perhaps that will at least strengthen the question. In our case my husband and I reside in Alabama. The birthmother resides in Oregon, and the birthfather in yet another state and is not in the picture. The baby will be born in Oregon. My main question is regarding consent laws. In Oregon the bmom cannot sign consent till after the baby is born but once she does, there is no waiting period and it is irrevocable assuming she has been explained her rights, etc etc. In Alabama the bmom can sign prior to birth, however there is a 5 day waiting period after the birth during which she may revoke consent for any reason, no questions asked. I of course am not looking forward to that 5 day period and would much rather follow the birth state laws, and I also thought that is how it would flow. However the attorney we are consulting with in Alabama is telling us that it always goes by the state you will finalize in and that we have to go by Alabama for the consent. UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!! Aside from the fact that this is not info we want to hear, more importantly, we just want to be following everything correctly and don't want something to come back to haunt us because we didn't follow the correct chain of command. Now everyone I talk to in my state tells me this attorney is the best in the state, he does 95% adoptions in his practice, and helped write the adoption code for AL. So I don't want to be having thoughts that I don't trust in what he is telling me, but it is different than what I am hearing from everyone in this group. So does anyone have any advice??

[tobeafamily]

Is your attorney Quad-A?

HTH

Regina, AMom to Ryan Joshua Thomas

[PJM9396]

Yes, the attorney we have consulted with is Quad-A. There are only 4 for our entire state who are, and only 2 of those near us.